Alright, so I was curious about something recently and haven't had it properly explained.
Scenario 1:
Person 1 and Person 2 both have a 3DS XL running 4.5.0-10U. They both use Gateway's launcher to backup their NAND. (And for sake of discussion, let's say they also "format emuNAND" which copies the system NAND to the first part of the SD card)
If person 1 and 2 swap SD cards after creating emuNAND, it's my understanding that neither will work. Correct?
Scenario 2:
Person 1 has a fully updated 3DS (7.1), Person 2 has a 4.5 system with a hardware NAND flasher installed. Person 2 makes a backup of 4.5 using Gateway's launcher. They then update to 7.1. Person 1 does a system transfer to person 2's system. Person 2 then backs up the NAND using the hardware flasher, then restores 4.5 the same way.
Using the "NAND formatter" utility someone on gbatemp wrote, person 2 can now play person 1's games from an emuNAND.
I can confirm scenario 2, as I have two 3DS systems and did this exact thing myself. I even transferred it back after a week to system 1 (from the real NAND, not emulated), and can still use the backup.
Now, here's my question. Why doesn't scenario 1 work while scenario 2 does?
As far as I know, every 3DS has its own set of keys for decrypting the encrypted contents. See also: movable.sed.
The file also gets remade every time you format the NAND, which is why your SD card will no longer work and you have to redownload your programs.
And therefore, since movable.sed is part of the NAND, wouldn't it transfer over in scenario 1 as well? A similar scenario is formatting your real NAND while leaving the emuNAND untouched - the emuNAND still boots perfectly fine, I can confirm this as well.
From what I've heard from others, all the system transfers do is transfer NAND contents like pictures, settings and the like, as well as movable.sed - everything else is done via SD which is why DSiware gets moved to the SD and back, and all your games still work fine by just putting the SD in system 2 after a transfer.
So why exactly does scenario 2 work but scenario 1 doesn't? Hopefully someone can help me understand.
Scenario 1:
Person 1 and Person 2 both have a 3DS XL running 4.5.0-10U. They both use Gateway's launcher to backup their NAND. (And for sake of discussion, let's say they also "format emuNAND" which copies the system NAND to the first part of the SD card)
If person 1 and 2 swap SD cards after creating emuNAND, it's my understanding that neither will work. Correct?
Scenario 2:
Person 1 has a fully updated 3DS (7.1), Person 2 has a 4.5 system with a hardware NAND flasher installed. Person 2 makes a backup of 4.5 using Gateway's launcher. They then update to 7.1. Person 1 does a system transfer to person 2's system. Person 2 then backs up the NAND using the hardware flasher, then restores 4.5 the same way.
Using the "NAND formatter" utility someone on gbatemp wrote, person 2 can now play person 1's games from an emuNAND.
I can confirm scenario 2, as I have two 3DS systems and did this exact thing myself. I even transferred it back after a week to system 1 (from the real NAND, not emulated), and can still use the backup.
Now, here's my question. Why doesn't scenario 1 work while scenario 2 does?
As far as I know, every 3DS has its own set of keys for decrypting the encrypted contents. See also: movable.sed.
The file also gets remade every time you format the NAND, which is why your SD card will no longer work and you have to redownload your programs.
And therefore, since movable.sed is part of the NAND, wouldn't it transfer over in scenario 1 as well? A similar scenario is formatting your real NAND while leaving the emuNAND untouched - the emuNAND still boots perfectly fine, I can confirm this as well.
From what I've heard from others, all the system transfers do is transfer NAND contents like pictures, settings and the like, as well as movable.sed - everything else is done via SD which is why DSiware gets moved to the SD and back, and all your games still work fine by just putting the SD in system 2 after a transfer.
So why exactly does scenario 2 work but scenario 1 doesn't? Hopefully someone can help me understand.