I accidentally drop my 3DS and it died, so I bought I new one and tried to transfer all my old save data, but I discover that each console has an encryption layer that makes it difficult to transfer your data to a new console, so here I give you a summarized tutorial for recovering your old saves the way I did.

First it’s necessary that you have all your essentials system files backed up, specifically two files: boot9.bin and movable.sed. Without them, it’s impossible to pass the encryption layer of your old 3DS files.

If you still have access to your 3DS you can back up your files following these steps (if your old console is broken like mine, you can look at your SD card and check inside the folder /gm9/out for these files):

Dumping DuARM9 BootROM:​

ARM9 BootROM contains various encryption keys.​

• Start GodMode9. You can start it by pressing the START button while you power on your console.
• Navigate to [M:] MEMORY VIRTUAL.
• Press L on boot9.bin.
• Press A to select, then choose "Copy to 0:/gm9/out".
• Turn off the system.
• Check inside /gm9/out on the SD card. The file boot9.bin should be created.

Dumping movable.sed:​

movable.sed contains KeyY for SD data encryption for all files under /Nintendo 3DS/<id0>/<id1>. The file is located in CTRNAND at /private/movable.sed.

If you have an essentials backup (essential.exefs) created by GodMode9, the file is available inside as "movable".

The drive depends on the source. SysNAND is at [1:] SYSNAND CTRNAND. EmuNAND/RedNAND is at [4:] EMUNAND CTRNAND. A mounted NAND backup is at [7:] IMGNAND CTRNAND.

• Start GodMode9.
• Navigate to the source drive -> private.
• Select movable.sed, then choose "Copy to 0:/gm9/out".
• Turn off the system.
• Check inside /gm9/out on the SD card. The file movable.sed should be created.

After dumping these two files, the next step is decrypting your old save datas. For this, you need to know the Title ID of the games you want to backup. If you don’t know the Title ID of them, you can check them following these steps:

If your console is broken and you can’t access to GodMode9:

• IMPORTANT: Backup the essential system files of your new console to avoid bricking your new console.
• Insert your old SD on your new console and start GodMode9.
• Copy your old movable.sed (the one in your SD:/gm9/out) right into CTRNAND into /private/ folder. This will replace your old movable.sed so it’s important to have a backup because you will have to restore it later.
• Restart GodMode9.

Follow the next steps to get the Title IDs (if you didn’t follow the previous steps, you need to do this on your old console):

• Go to [A:] SYSNAND SD, press (R)+(A) → Search for titles. You will see a list of all the games you had installed on your old SD with their Title ID. Write down the Title ID of all the games you want to recover.
• (ONLY IF YOU DID THE STEPS FOR THE BROKEN CONSOLE) After you finish copying the Title IDs, you need to restore the movable.sed of your new console into CTRNAND following the previous steps. Check you did it right by restarting your console.

Once you have the Title IDs of the games you want to restore, you need to install threeSD (you can find it on Github: zhaowenlan1779/threeSD).

After you have installed it, you need to insert your old SD into your computer and open threeSD. It will list your SD. Then you have to go to Utilities. There, make sure you have checked Use SD Decryption, and choose your boot9.bin and movable.sed from your /gm9/out folder. Then choose your SDMC Root (this is the folder where your save data are located). This folder is located at \Nintendo 3DS\<id0>\<id1>. If this folder has a /title/ folder, it’s the correct.

After that, you need to open Save Data Extraction on threeSD and need to choose your Source file. This file is located at \Nintendo 3DS\<id0>\<id1>\title\<gameid0>\<gameid1>\data and it’s usually called 00000001.sav (gameid0 is the first part of the titleID and it’s usually called 00040000, gameid1 will be then the second part of the Title ID you are looking for).

Once you have selected the Source, select your destination folder and proceed. If done correctly, you will have now a folder and a file in the destination folder called 00000001.

So now, you have to copy all the content inside the folder 00000001 (these are the decrypted save datas). You can even use these decrypted save datas on Cytra!

If you want to restore these save datas to your new 3DS, you have to install a 3DS save manager. In my case, I used JKSM (you can find it on Github: J-D-K/JKSM).

Once you have JKSM installed, open the game you want to restore the saves and create a fresh new save data. Then, close the game and open JKSM. Select Reload Titles / Refresh Games.

Then, go to Titles and Select Game. When you choose the game, select the option Save Data and press A on New. This will create a folder on your SD with the date of the save and a backup of the fresh new save data.

Now, you will have to copy the contents of the folder 00000001 that you created before that contains the decrypted save data of your old 3DS and overwrite the folder that you have created with JKSM (this will be located in the folder /JKSM/Saves/ of your SD card).

After that, you just have to open again the game, check your save data is restored and enjoy!

 

[Kwyjor]

Thank you for your efforts; I have never been clear on how to use threeSD in cases like this. Some comments:

While boot9.bin is necessary, boot9.bin – unlike movable.sed – is completely the same for all consoles. You can either dump it from another 3DS or just download it from the Internet if you can find it.

You can extract movable.sed from a NAND backup or from essential.exefs using ninfs on a PC. In some cases it will be called movable.bin .

I usually suggest that people look up Title IDs at https://github.com/hax0kartik/3dsdb or http://3dsdb.com/ . This is probably safer than overwriting movable.sed on another console. (I'm not completely sure why that would be necessary.)

Checkpoint is generally preferred over JKSM these days, though JKSM works just as well.

And this procedure may require extra steps for games that use extdata for storage.

 

[CoolMe]

Good job! Very detailed and thorough.. This'll be a big help for those who'll find themselves in a similar situation like yours.

 

[DogeTheRobot]

I'm gonna clear this up for anyone who's stupid like me (no offense) but you HAVE to select the folder that contains title, extras, backup etc (I didn't need like that was very clear.) Also if you're missing boot9.bin and movable.sed and you have your friend code then you can generate movable.sed here and boot9.bin is the same for all 3DS consoles. If anyone needs any help feel free to dm/pm me.

 

[omnicloud7]

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Can't get this to work

 

[Kwyjor]

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

That's hard to say without more details about what you're doing. What did you click on before that message appeared? Is drive D your SD card? Is your SD card readable at all?

The more precise you can be, the more likely someone will be able to help you.

 

[omnicloud7]

That's hard to say without more details about what you're doing. What did you click on before that message appeared? Is drive D your SD card? Is your SD card readable at all?

The more precise you can be, the more likely someone will be able to help you.

D:/ is my memory card. Yes it is readable. I'm totally lost as to what is causing it. Last thing I did was set Source and Destination. For Source I chose the .sav file on the SD card under the Nintendo 3DS subdirectory. For destination I just chose Desktop. The movable.sed and boot9.bin files are on a folder on my desktop.

 

[Kwyjor]

For Source I chose the .sav file on the SD card under the Nintendo 3DS subdirectory.

This is still unclear. Exactly what file did you select?

If you are just randomly throwing a .sav file into the Nintendo 3DS folder, then of course that isn't going to work. It has to be in the correct folder.

 

[omnicloud7]

This is still unclear. Exactly what file did you select?

This one. It's the savefile for Zelda: ALBW. It's on the SD card which is D:/ on my computer

 

[Kwyjor]

This one. It's the savefile for Zelda: ALBW

That's better. Like I said, the more details you can provide, the more likely someone can help you. Is there some reason this file is dated 1/1/2001? And where did your movable.sed come from?

Does anything different happen if you try SD Decryption instead of Save Data Extraction?

 

[omnicloud7]

That's better. Like I said, the more details you can provide, the more likely someone can help you. Is there some reason this file is dated 1/1/2001? And where did your movable.sed come from?

Does anything different happen if you try SD Decryption instead of Save Data Extraction?

Have no idea why it's dated 1/01. The date of the folder it's on is correct though. The movable.sed is a file that I got from seedminer. The 3DS I got this from is already dead so I am relying on old files that I backed up. When I do SD Decryption it works to a point where it asks me to save the file then it does save although it has no file extension.

To my understanding, the end product should be a folder with .bin files right? When I do SD Decryption it's just one file.

 

[Kwyjor]

The movable.sed is a file that I got from seedminer.

Details, sir! How did you get it from seedminer? Was it generated using the 3DS that died, or did you get it some other way? Do you have a NAND backup or any other files from the 3DS that died? Are you sure you are using the correct movable.sed?

To my understanding, the end product should be a folder with .bin files right?

It depends on the game, but in this case, as shown by https://gbatemp.net/download/the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-between-worlds-eur-100.36909/ , that is correct.

I'm attaching my files here if someone wants to take a go at it.

You shouldn't be distributing boot9.bin; that's copyrighted material.

I took a swing at it and the decrypted data is indeed not recognizable as save data. (Data that is decrypted but not unpacked will have the string "DISA" somewhere near the start of the file.) That is why I am suspecting a problem with your movable.sed.

 

[omnicloud7]

Details, sir! How did you get it from seedminer? Was it generated using the 3DS that died, or did you get it some other way? Do you have a NAND backup or any other files from the 3DS that died? Are you sure you are using the correct movable.sed?

I used BruteForce Movable and added the generated friend code, which then gave me the downloadable movable.sed
Yes it is from the 3DS that died which had the savedata I want to transfer

 

[Kwyjor]

I used BruteForce Movable and added the generated friend code, which then gave me the downloadable movable.sed
Yes it is from the 3DS that died which had the savedata I want to transfer

You didn't answer the other question. Do you have a NAND backup or any other files from the 3DS that died?

 

[omnicloud7]

You didn't answer the other question. Do you have a NAND backup or any other files from the 3DS that died?

Unfortunately no I don't as far as I know. In case I have what would I have to do?

 

[Kwyjor]

In case I have what would I have to do?

I already answered that in my first post in this thread. You can extract movable.sed (or movable.bin, which is the same thing) from a NAND backup or from essential.exefs using ninfs. It should contain the same key as the file you got from Seedminer - but it would be worth a shot.

Can you upload the file you get from threeSD using SD Decryption?

 

[omnicloud7]

I already answered that in my first post in this thread. You can extract movable.sed (or movable.bin, which is the same thing) from a NAND backup or from essential.exefs using ninfs. It should contain the same key as the file you got from Seedminer - but it would be worth a shot.

Can you upload the file you get from threeSD using SD Decryption?

Double checked, looks like I don't really have a NAND Backup.
Here's the file generated by SD Decryption. It has no file extension so I'm not sure it worked correctly.

 

[Kwyjor]

Hmm. What's really weird is that I can't seem to generate the same file you created.

If you're not sure if you're doing everything right, you can always try the procedure with your current SD card and your current movable.sed and see if you can produce a meaningful result.

Just to be sure, that folder is ba04cb6979c7720abcc549060277bd2a a3a2011a4738b733534530340002544d , right? What if you select D:/Nintendo 3DS/ba04cb6979c7720abcc549060277bd2a/a3a2011a4738b733534530340002544d as your SDMC root instead of D:/ ?

 

[omnicloud7]

Hmm. What's really weird is that I can't seem to generate the same file you created.

If you're not sure if you're doing everything right, you can always try the procedure with your current SD card and your current movable.sed and see if you can produce a meaningful result.

Just to be sure, that folder is ba04cb6979c7720abcc549060277bd2a a3a2011a4738b733534530340002544d , right? What if you select D:/Nintendo 3DS/ba04cb6979c7720abcc549060277bd2a/a3a2011a4738b733534530340002544d as your SDMC root instead of D:/ ?

Someone here helped me out over at PM. Apparently I had to choose the ID1 folder on the SDMC path. It worked and I got my saves. Thanks for your help tho!

 

[Kwyjor]

Apparently I had to choose the ID1 folder on the SDMC path.

Yes, strangely, that's what the earlier poster said too:

I'm gonna clear this up for anyone who's stupid like me (no offense) but you HAVE to select the folder that contains title, extras, backup etc (I didn't need like that was very clear.)

I didn't need to do that for some reason, but that's two votes now for doing things that way. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯