N3DS with 128 GB SD card: "Cannot display the software on the microSD card. The microSD card could not be accessed."

[LecheDelCaos]

Hey there. First time posting here, and I need some help.

I think my 128GB SD card got corrupted or into Read Only Mode somehow, but I'm not sure. Maybe this can be fixed.

Basically, I tried transferring CFW on a New 3DS from a 4GB card to a 128 GB one. The 128 is SDXC. I formatted it with guiformat with 32K allocation (default), copied all the contents from the old 4GB SD card to the new one and I kept getting this error: "Cannot display the software on the microSD card. The microSD card could not be accessed.". It causes the console to go through the Home menu really slowly and also makes the SD card unrecognizable to any computer you insert it in; "freezing" the whole disk. guiformat, DISKPART and other tools will either crash and/or freeze/not start or update properly until I remove the SD Card from the computer.

The SD card's size isn't displayed on File Explorer. After investigating for a bit, I thought that this was because of the 32K allocation unit, then tried formatting again using Godmode9 this time. I'm able to browse the SD card's files with GM9, but even after formatting, they're still there, so this doesn't really seem to work. The same happens whenever I try deleting something manually.

I bought another SD card of the same size and formatted it with 64K allocation units using guiformat, but got the exact same result.

I managed to get a 32GB SD card from a friend that didn't need it anymore and been using it since then, and everything runs smoothly, so this isn't really that much of a problem anymore; but I'd like to try and save the two 128 GB cards if I can.

Have any of you experienced something like this before? Is there anything that can be done about it?

 

[Tokiwa]

Are you sure these two cards are real? There is plenty of fake ones floating around and they usually give these symptoms you are describing. If not that you could try another adapter/cable to connect to your PC.

 

[LecheDelCaos]

Are you sure these two cards are real? There is plenty of fake ones floating around and they usually give these symptoms you are describing. If not that you could try another adapter/cable to connect to your PC.

They're two Intenso microSDXC UHS-I PREMIUM 128 GB cards. Bought them from a local computer store so they're legit. Also, no matter the adapter I try; the problem is with the microSD cards themselves.

 

[Myst3ry_MAN-08]

I belive your problem lies at the start. The ds systems only take sdHC cards ranging from 4-25 ish GB. I have run into this problem myself with a 128GB sdxc card and when I went to check to see if it was compatible with the file system in settings the screen attempted to do some math of converting bytes and gigs to "blocks" before crashing, meaning it was too big for its system to comprehend its size. So all you need to do is get a card below 80 (more or less 80) GB and make sure its a SDHC card. SanDisk's usually work on all Nintendo consoles that support their products, like the switch, wii, wiiu etc.

 

[Kwyjor]

I don't know why you're bumping a thread that hasn't had any replies for two months?

I belive your problem lies at the start. The ds systems only take sdHC cards ranging from 4-25 ish GB.

Also this is absolutely not true. Many people use large SD cards in their 3DS units without any problems. Also you are contradicting this in your own post?

when I went to check to see if it was compatible with the file system in settings the screen attempted to do some math of converting bytes and gigs to "blocks" before crashing, meaning it was too big for its system to comprehend its size.

It's hard to say what might have gone wrong here, but there was probably something else wrong with your card.

 

[Myst3ry_MAN-08]

I don't know why you're bumping a thread that hasn't had any replies for two months?

Also this is absolutely not true. Many people use large SD cards in their 3DS units without any problems.

It's hard to say what might have gone wrong here, but there was probably something else wrong with your card.

its a little something called "I wasent paying attention to the date and woops my bad but whatever I solved the problem anyway"

 

[Andrea_Harmonia]

Well in case someone reads this post, format the SD card with Rufus, just, set it to "Non Auto-Bootable device", format with FAT32 and a 32kb Cluster, that fixed the problem I had with mine, and my 3DS right now is running a 128gb one

 

[signer-ink-beast]

It's definitely worth checking to see if your card was formatted properly. Some tools will default to formatting SDXC cards as exFat instead of FAT32. These cards also typically came pre-formatted as exFat, so you'll need to format them to FAT32 yourself before using them with the 3DS. Or use GodMode9 to do it.

Only other thing I can think of is putting the microSD into one of those adapters that make it a full-size SD, and make sure the read-only switch isn't set. No idea if that makes any real difference, but could be worth a shot if you have access to one that works with SDXC cards.

 

[Jeeves2]

Well in case someone reads this post, format the SD card with Rufus, just, set it to "Non Auto-Bootable device", format with FAT32 and a 32kb Cluster, that fixed the problem I had with mine, and my 3DS right now is running a 128gb one

hey man, just made an account to say that this worked. 128 gb microsd card from walmart, onn branded.