Hardware new 3ds xl physical nand transfer?

[rzyao]

Hi, I'm new here so i'm not actually sure how this works. I do have a question and i figured this would be the best place to ask.

I have a broken new 3ds xl and I was wondering if it would be possible to desolder the NAND chip and move it to a new motherboard to transfer the saves, since all I have right now is a nand backup. I'm not sure if there's any extra steps and I think it would be best to ask someone before buying a new system to use (the old one is just too much effort to get working right now). I can provide any extra details if necessary.

 

[Ryccardo]

Saves of what? Titles installed to SD save to the SD, so unless you want to rescue your Miis/friend list/Mii Plaza/etc you're looking in the wrong place

Of course, as you may know the saves on SD are encrypted with a key partially derived from the movable.sed file on ctrnand, so you'll need to decrypt and mount the nand (or its backup if you didn't change the movable.sed, by doing a factory reset or system transfer, since then) - but to decrypt the nand you need a key built into your console's OTP, so:

1- you can't move your flash chip to another console and expect it to work
2- to do 1 you would need to decrypt and reencrypt your nand partitions in the first place
3- if you have an "essential backup" as created by GM9, that contains your otp, movable.sed, ... anyway (it's stored on SD and may be on nand, including later-created backups, too, don't remember well this last point)

 

[rzyao]

I have the nand backup, but I think that's all I did. The system is completely unusable, as the motherboard is damaged. Is there any way to get the friends lists, miis, and other system data, or is it completely gone?

 

[Aquadraws]

You would need unique console keys to decrypt the nand anyways... since the files you are looking for are in the CTRNAND partition

 

[Ryccardo]

Yeah, you'd need to figure out if GM9 saved your nand key on the nand itself - the earliest versions definitely didn't, the official readme (the part that goes "Embed an essential backup [...]") suggests it does, if that's the case you should be able to extract it and use the contents to mount the backup (both can be done with fuse-3ds)

 

[rzyao]

This seems really complicated, since my console is effectively dead, is there anything I can do to extract miis, and other system data or do I have to start over at the beginning?

 

[Ryccardo]

More complicated than your original plan of moving a BGA chip?

If the console doesn't work (not even via an ntrboot card) there are no alternatives: you need a (copy of) the nand as well as its decryption keys (which can be calculated from the OTP and CID, which should be included in that "essential backup")

 

[Kwyjor]

This seems really complicated, since my console is effectively dead

Using ninfs (formerly fuse-3ds) is easy, at least. Before you drive yourself nuts with more complicated solutions, you should probably try opening your NAND backup in ninfs and see if the decryption key is already embedded therein. You can also use essential.exefs, which is auto-generated by later versions of gm9.

 

[rzyao]

All I did was take the NAND backup from GM9, if that has the decryption key can i still restore a different system?

 

[Kwyjor]

The one thing you must never, ever do is restore a complete NAND backup to a system other than the one that was used to make the backup. But if you can open the NAND backup in ninfs, then you can extract the CTRNAND and you should be able to restore that to a different console.

Or if you're only interested in Mii Plaza and your Friends list, you might want to try extracting the save data for those specific components. Mii Plaza is complicated, though.

See https://www.reddit.com/r/3dshacks/comments/70gwgu/everything_you_wanted_to_know_about_the_3ds_but/ for more details.

 

[rzyao]

So, if I were to take the nand backup I have, what exactly would I need to do to transfer all of the files over to a new system? The Miis and friends list were just specific examples. In addition, would this transfer saves for downloaded (from eShop) games?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Just to clarify, I have a broken new 3ds xl which I homebrewed and have the nand backup of. What do I need to do to clone this system over to a replacement?
Edit: forgot to mention that I have a movable.sed in my downloads, if the one that I need is one downloaded from the web

 

[TurdPooCharger]

You can't reuse the NAND image on another like-series 3DS system. To learn more about eMMC swapping and console unique encryption:

• Repairing dead new 3ds LL

However, you can extract the movable.sed and the KeyY from the NAND image.

• Default Restoring a 3ds and SD from backup without the console?

To get your movable.sed from the ######_XX########_sysnand_000.bin, go to offset 0x800. It should have magic header of "SEED".

As stated by @botik, the 0x10 bytes KeyY is located at block 0x910-91F. Post #4 in that second thread has info about using the KeyY to decrypt and backup the CIAs and saves + extdata.

Edit - OKAY. There might be a way to decrypt the rest of your SysNAND *.bin image. ninfs (fuse-3ds) should be able to do it if your image has included the otp.bin. This file is located at block 0xE00-EFF.

 

[rzyao]

You can't reuse the NAND image on another like-series 3DS system. To learn more about eMMC swapping and console unique encryption:

• Repairing dead new 3ds LL

However, you can extract the movable.sed and the KeyY from the NAND image.

• Default Restoring a 3ds and SD from backup without the console?

To get your movable.sed from the ######_XX########_sysnand_000.bin, go to offset 0x800. It should have magic header of "SEED".

As stated by @botik, the 0x10 bytes KeyY is located at block 0x910-91F. Post #4 in that second thread has info about using the KeyY to decrypt and backup the CIAs and saves + extdata.

I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what any of that means. I realized how stupid a physical transfer was, but apparently decryption is a thing and I'm not sure what I would do once I have a decrypted nand, IE how to clone the system. The old one is broken but I have a nand backup.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Edit - OKAY. There might be a way to decrypt the rest of your SysNAND *.bin image. ninfs (fuse-3ds) should be able to do it if your image has included the otp.bin. This file is located at block 0xE00-EFF.

Is that a separate file or is it usually included in the NAND backup?

 

[TurdPooCharger]

I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what any of that means. I realized how stupid a physical transfer was, but apparently decryption is a thing and I'm not sure what I would do once I have a decrypted nand, IE how to clone the system. The old one is broken but I have a nand backup.

You don't want to clone a NAND setup on a substitute 3DS system because of the risk of getting that second 3DS/2DS banned (unauthorized / homebrew System Transfer that's not officially sanctioned or server side recorded by Nintendo).

The only two files worth extracting is the movable.sed (to decrypt and backup your SD titles) and LocalFriendCodeSeed_B (to unban yourself from online play).

Is that a separate file or is it usually included in the NAND backup?

It should be in the SysNAND *.bin image at that specified hex offset / block. You're going to have to get comfortable using a hex editor. I recommend the program HxD.

 

[rzyao]

wait, so is there a way to effectively clone the system (miis, friend codes, etc.)?

 

[TurdPooCharger]

wait, so is there a way to effectively clone the system (miis, friend codes, etc.)?

The three files of interest you want to extract from that SysNAND *.bin image are: ctrnand_full.bin, twln.bin, and twlp.bin. Those are the nomenclatures in GodMode9 but probably named slightly different when using the desktop program, ninfs. They are the decrypted, usable form of the respective NAND partitions that makes System Transfer and CTRNAND image transfer (CTRTransfer) possible.

Whatever is it that you're planning to do, you don't want to keep that NAND setup on another 3DS system on a permanent basis.

Because I don't condone the practice of this soft modding due to people misusing it, I leave the rest up to you on searching these forums and figuring this out on your own.

 

[Kwyjor]

The Miis and friends list were just specific examples. In addition, would this transfer saves for downloaded (from eShop) games?

Saves for eShop games are stored on the SD card, not the NAND.

Edit: forgot to mention that I have a movable.sed in my downloads, if the one that I need is one downloaded from the web

moveable.sed is unique for each console. It is only useful if it's your personal moveable.sed, i.e. generated during the installation of CFW. If you downloaded it randomly it is useless.

You can use moveable.sed to decrypt the contents of your SD card and subsequently extract save data for eShop games.

 

[rzyao]

I think the movable.sed was one I downloaded sometime during the home brew process, so does that work? I think it had something to do with friend codes.

Whatever is it that you're planning to do, you don't want to keep that NAND setup on another 3DS system on a permanent basis.

Because I don't condone the practice of this soft modding due to people misusing it, I leave the rest up to you on searching these forums and figuring this out on your own.

Why exactly would I not want the nand set up on a different console? If it's damage risk, could I use somehow clone it to EmuNAND?

 

[Kwyjor]

moveable.sed is unique for each console. It is only useful if it's your personal moveable.sed, i.e. generated during the installation of CFW.

I think the movable.sed was one I downloaded sometime during the home brew process, so does that work?

What else do you think I meant, exactly..?

I think it had something to do with friend codes.

The CFW installation process requires you to add another device to your Friends list. Otherwise it has nothing to do with your friend codes.

 

[rzyao]

What else do you think I meant, exactly..?

The CFW installation process requires you to add another device to your Friends list. Otherwise it has nothing to do with your friend codes.

Yeah, it was around November and I never really got around to fixing it. I dont remember a lot but I have the movable that I got during CFW, so yes I have it. What would I need to do to get the SD on another system?