Problem SD partitions

[juanmikun]

hello everyone!

I am panicking a bit right now because I formatted my micro SD and now it can't be read.

I originally was on SX OS, but last year I moved to atmosphere.

Everything was working alright but recently it started to work veeery slow, so I decided to copy the content of the SD card to a external drive and format it.

Problem comes when after the formatting, the card cannot be mounted. Besides that, I totally forgot about the hidden partition (I hadn't touched it since... well, since I installed SX OS long time ago...).

I tried formatting the partition several times with the mac and windows, but after it, I was not able to mount it. Same with the Switch itself, it cannot mount it.

Is there any way to extract the hidden partition and save it somewhere and restore it later?

I have a back up I believe from before the transition to Atmosphere, but I don't know if this could be of any use, and besides I wouldn't like to lose the savegames from the last months...

On the other hand, I am wondering if there is any way I can restore the "normal" partition, so I could install again atmosphere, make a back up and format the full micro SD...

Any idea on how to fix the normal partition? If not, any idea on how to recover the savegames? (they are on the hidden partition, right? I saved everything else, including emuMMC folder..., but I believe savegames are not there...)

Thanks a lot!

 

[Taikutsumaranai]

I believe games save data is on the console and not the SD card, so nothing to worry about there.
I am not sure about the other issue though, I am not an expert but I've fixed many drives with messed up partitions using EaseUS partition master.
Maybe other members can give you a better advice.
Good luck!

 

[TomSwitch]

Use hekate to format your sd card. Fat32 is the only recommended format for Switch CFW use. For atmosphere if you use emunand the save is there on that emunand partition on the sd card, don't change the location of the emunand partition and you will be ok, don't know anything about sx.

 

[binkinator]

Try using NXnandmanager or Emutool to see your emunand partition, make a copy and migrate it to another card. If you can’t read the card due to hardware issues there aren’t many other options.

once you have a backup of your emunand you can combine it with your regular partition data to rebuild.

At this point you can use rufus to format your entire sdcard to a single FAT32 w/ 32 k blocks.

You should now be able to mount your sd card. Please confirm.

once you’ve confirmed the card is working you can use Hekate to slice up yiur partitions and then restore your file system backup as well as your emunand partition backup.

 

[raging_chaos]

I believe games save data is on the console and not the SD card, so nothing to worry about there.

If using CFW save data does not touch the Switch's internal memory, it gets stored in whatever emuNAND/emuMMC you have setup.

I tried formatting the partition several times with the mac and windows, but after it, I was not able to mount it. Same with the Switch itself, it cannot mount it. Is there any way to extract the hidden partition and save it somewhere and restore it later?

With NXnandmanager and your system keys you could have but you've already tried formatting that partition multiple times, there's no telling if any data is even there anymore. If you have your keys try running the tool, if it doesn't detect the hidden partition then you have your answer and you know the data is gone. If it does detect it you can follow any NXnandmanger guide to backup and migrate that partition back to the SD card.

(they are on the hidden partition, right? I saved everything else, including emuMMC folder..., but I believe savegames are not there...)

Was your Atmosphere emuMMC partition-based or file-based? Normally peeps would suggest not to use a file-based emuMMC but if that's what you had then your save data is contained within those files. Use NXnandmanager to extract them. Check the size of the emuMMC folder, if it's around 32GB then you had a file-based emuMMC .

 

[juanmikun]

If using CFW save data does not touch the Switch's internal memory, it gets stored in whatever emuNAND/emuMMC you have setup.



With NXnandmanager and your system keys you could have but you've already tried formatting that partition multiple times, there's no telling if any data is even there anymore. If you have your keys try running the tool, if it doesn't detect the hidden partition then you have your answer and you know the data is gone. If it does detect it you can follow any NXnandmanger guide to backup and migrate that partition back to the SD card.



Was your Atmosphere emuMMC partition-based or file-based? Normally peeps would suggest not to use a file-based emuMMC but if that's what you had then your save data is contained within those files. Use NXnandmanager to extract them. Check the size of the emuMMC folder, if it's around 32GB then you had a file-based emuMMC .

The emuMMC folder is around 209 GB, I had the hidden partition since I installed SX OS and transferred to atmosphere. I have a back-up from that moment (Firmware was 11.0)

My OFW on the switch is 9.2.0 and I'm wondering if I can restore the 11.0 back up and then transfer to atmosphere and update again to latest firmware on emunand.

I assumed I lost the current emunand, since the SD is most probably dead. I tried formatting it with all kind of tools but no luck at all... so i'll just have to get a new SD.

My purpose now is to restore as much data as possible.

I made a byte-to-byte copy of the hidden partition with a tool called Disk Drill on mac, I don't know if this can be of any use...

 

[TomSwitch]

The emuMMC folder is around 209 GB, I had the hidden partition since I installed SX OS and transferred to atmosphere. I have a back-up from that moment (Firmware was 11.0)

My OFW on the switch is 9.2.0 and I'm wondering if I can restore the 11.0 back up and then transfer to atmosphere and update again to latest firmware on emunand.

I assumed I lost the current emunand, since the SD is most probably dead. I tried formatting it with all kind of tools but no luck at all... so i'll just have to get a new SD.

My purpose now is to restore as much data as possible.

I made a byte-to-byte copy of the hidden partition with a tool called Disk Drill on mac, I don't know if this can be of any use...

If you have a backup emunand you can restore it directly, there is no need to get your sysnand (I suppose that is what you mean by OFW) involved.

 

[raging_chaos]

The emuMMC folder is around 209 GB, I had the hidden partition since I installed SX OS and transferred to atmosphere.

Sorry, I goofed on the name of the folder there. Open the emuMMC folder you backed up and ignore the Nintendo folder. If there is another folder there open that one (might be named SD0#) and inside that if you see an eMMC folder then you had a filed-based Atmosphere setup (that folder should be around 32GB).

The rest of this I'm posting under the assumption you originally had a hidden SX partition that you later migrated to a file-based emunand. If that's the case then it partly explains why you had slow-down (which is one of the reasons why peeps don't use file-based) but it will make your recovery process a little easier. Unless you specifically need something from SXOS's partition you don't need to worry about it. As said before your Atmosphere saves are contained within the eMMC folder and all you need to do is focus on 100% wiping your SD card and copying all your files back over.

Once again that's all under the assumption your setup was file-based. I, unfortunately, do not know of a Mac equivalent to NXNandManager but you are going to have to use that to convert your files to the safer partition-based setup once you get your new SD card. If your Atmosphere setup was partition-based it would have been located at the end of the SD card (it would not be hidden like SX's and on Windows the OS would nag about wanting to format that partition.)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

The emuMMC folder is around 209 GB, I had the hidden partition since I installed SX OS and transferred to atmosphere. I have a back-up from that moment (Firmware was 11.0)

My OFW on the switch is 9.2.0 and I'm wondering if I can restore the 11.0 back up and then transfer to atmosphere and update again to latest firmware on emunand.

I assumed I lost the current emunand, since the SD is most probably dead. I tried formatting it with all kind of tools but no luck at all... so i'll just have to get a new SD.

My purpose now is to restore as much data as possible.

I made a byte-to-byte copy of the hidden partition with a tool called Disk Drill on mac, I don't know if this can be of any use...

Let's hope you haven't destroyed the emuNAND in your formatting attempts and you'll be able to clone it to the new drive. You could simply use any imaging program that can do a sector based clone, such as EASEUS Partition Master (or Todo Backup, I forget which one of them is the one that can do sector based clone) or make an image file to your HDD that you can restore to the new card. It's not the fastest way since it will clone all the data, even unused space. I believe there are PC tools you can use to backup just the emuNAND partition, just not sure what they're called. Normally you'd use Hekate, but that backs up to the card so it obviously won't work with a dead card.

I believe games save data is on the console and not the SD card, so nothing to worry about there.
I am not sure about the other issue though, I am not an expert but I've fixed many drives with messed up partitions using EaseUS partition master.
Maybe other members can give you a better advice.
Good luck!

emuNAND save data would be stored on the emuNAND partition on SD.

 

[juanmikun]

Sorry, I goofed on the name of the folder there. Open the emuMMC folder you backed up and ignore the Nintendo folder. If there is another folder there open that one (might be named SD0#) and inside that if you see an eMMC folder then you had a filed-based Atmosphere setup (that folder should be around 32GB).

The rest of this I'm posting under the assumption you originally had a hidden SX partition that you later migrated to a file-based emunand. If that's the case then it partly explains why you had slow-down (which is one of the reasons why peeps don't use file-based) but it will make your recovery process a little easier. Unless you specifically need something from SXOS's partition you don't need to worry about it. As said before your Atmosphere saves are contained within the eMMC folder and all you need to do is focus on 100% wiping your SD card and copying all your files back over.

Once again that's all under the assumption your setup was file-based. I, unfortunately, do not know of a Mac equivalent to NXNandManager but you are going to have to use that to convert your files to the safer partition-based setup once you get your new SD card. If your Atmosphere setup was partition-based it would have been located at the end of the SD card (it would not be hidden like SX's and on Windows the OS would nag about wanting to format that partition.)

So I don't think I have a SD0# folder... there is only ER00 folder with the 209 GB...

What I did was to copy the partition byte-to-byte with a tool, so hopefully I can mount it and copy it to a new SD

Whenever I try to fully format the SD card it will show error and won't fix anything, so clearly the card is faulty. I tried formatting it with many things already, but no success...

I attach the photos with the folders I have and the partitions, in case it can be of any use

 

[juanmikun]

guys I just managed to open the hidden partition with emutools... does anyone know what do I have to select? (I was last on Atmosphere, but the partition was created with SX OS)

 

[raging_chaos]

So I don't think I have a SD0# folder... there is only ER00 folder with the 209 GB...

You're raw partition-based then, so that narrows that down.

guys I just managed to open the hidden partition with emutools... does anyone know what do I have to select? (I was last on Atmosphere, but the partition was created with SX OS)

Select emuMMC type: SXOS and Target: Atmosphere File to backup that partition to your harddrive.

 

[juanmikun]

You're raw partition-based then, so that narrows that down.


Select emuMMC type: SXOS and Target: Atmosphere File to backup that partition to your harddrive.

Is it too bad if i started selecting Atmosphere and Target atmosphere?

So far seems to be doing something, but I don't know if this is right. Image attached.

Thanks a lot

 

[raging_chaos]

Is it too bad if i started selecting Atmosphere and Target atmosphere?

A partition made by SX starts at sector 0x2 so you need to make sure to select the correct one. You would select Atmosphere partition if you created a separate hidden partition from scratch during your migration process.

 

[binkinator]

Is it too bad if i started selecting Atmosphere and Target atmosphere?

So far seems to be doing something, but I don't know if this is right. Image attached.

Thanks a lot

Getting anything at all is fantastic right now. If successful this will complete the necessary pieces you need to get back to where you were.

 

[juanmikun]

A partition made by SX starts at sector 0x2 so you need to make sure to select the correct one. You would select Atmosphere partition if you created a separate hidden partition from scratch during your migration process.

I had selected atmosphere on the source... is it too bad? It's currently transfering the files, so I don't want to interrupt it... maybe i can make a second copy later selecting SX OS too :/ Or do you think I should stop it and start selecting SX OS direclty?

Thanks!

 

[juanmikun]

Getting anything at all is fantastic right now. If successful this will complete the necessary pieces you need to get back to where you were.

That sounds great! It's really slow but right now it got like 20% done... (in like 2h... it's slow i guess because it's a virtual machine and also SD reader must not be the fastest...)

I'm just a bit concerned I chose Atmosphere hidden partition as source instead of SX os... but well, if I can extract it this way, I guess I can do it later again with the right one, I prefer not to interrupt for the moment... Thanks again! I remain optimistic

 

[binkinator]

That sounds great! It's really slow but right now it got like 20% done... (in like 2h... it's slow i guess because it's a virtual machine and also SD reader must not be the fastest...)

I'm just a bit concerned I chose Atmosphere hidden partition as source instead of SX os... but well, if I can extract it this way, I guess I can do it later again with the right one, I prefer not to interrupt for the moment... Thanks again! I remain optimistic

You were running atmosphere since you had converted from SXOS. You‘re getting something so that’s a good sign it’s working. If you can rebuild from it, great. If you have to try again. That’s fine. Go do something else for a bit and just let it go.

 

[juanmikun]

Sounds like a great idea, thanks a lot!

 

[juanmikun]

Hi guys! So after a long time waiting I managed to get this... does anyone know what's the next step? Thanks a lot!