Hardware Questions about longevity of DS cartridges

[DobaMuffin]

Hello everyone,

As a good chunk of people are aware, 3ds and switch cartridges are based on XtraROM which is a form of Nand cartridge. I am wondering if DS cartridges are also based on flash memory or if they are mask rom. If they are flash rom, does anyone know if there is a way to refresh the data or are we expected to just see the cartridges fail over time.

Thanks.
DobaMuffin

 

[KleinesSinchen]

As far as I know DS games are MASK ROM with very few exceptions (e.g. Wario Ware).

They should last decades.

 

[DobaMuffin]

As far as I know DS games are MASK ROM with very few exceptions (e.g. Wario Ware).

They should last decades.

That's what I was hoping to hear. Unfortunate for those few exceptions. Would be neat to have those exceptions documented.

 

[SylverReZ]

As far as I know DS games are MASK ROM with very few exceptions (e.g. Wario Ware).

They should last decades.

DS games only break if they're tossed around, or the most common one being the solder joints on the mask ROM are starting to get cold. Since the circuit boards inside are very thin, there's more-so a possibility of this happening.

 

[CMDreamer]

In the same context (sorry if I take this thread a bit off topic), what about 3DS cartridges?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DobaMuffin]

In the same context (sorry if I take this thread a bit off topic), what about 3DS cartridges?

Thanks in advance.

Info about the media used in 3ds and switch cartridges: https://gbatemp.net/threads/nintendo-switch-3ds-cartridge-lifespan.591607/

App to attempt repair of partially corrupted 3ds cartridges: https://gbatemp.net/threads/corrupted-cartridge-fixer-release.628539/

Edit:
On further research I found some more information about the Nand flash cartridges on gbatek. http://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm#dscartridgenand

I wonder if it is even possible to refresh the contents of these cartridges or if they will just die in due time.

 

[CMDreamer]

Info about the media used in 3ds and switch cartridges: https://gbatemp.net/threads/nintendo-switch-3ds-cartridge-lifespan.591607/

App to attempt repair of partially corrupted 3ds cartridges: https://gbatemp.net/threads/corrupted-cartridge-fixer-release.628539/

Edit:
On further research I found some more information about the Nand flash cartridges on gbatek. http://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm#dscartridgenand

I wonder if it is even possible to refresh the contents of these cartridges or if they will just die in due time.

Thanks for the very technical data!

 

[DobaMuffin]

Thanks for the very technical data!

No problem. Found that info in my pre-post research.