Homebrew Question Retroarch + exFat = corruption?

[astrodraco]

I have no idea why anyone defends exFAT or uses it with such vitriol against FAT32. It costs nothing to switch to FAT32 and isn't a hard process - and the filesystem isn't plagued with issues.

I truly do not understand it.

 

[Jbravo666]

I have more than a year with my 256 gb SanDisk micro SD in exFat without any problem.

 

[Deleted User]

300+ switch mods all exfat - Running perfect! Choice is there for you to make.

 

[smf]

I have no idea why anyone defends exFAT or uses it with such vitriol against FAT32. It costs nothing to switch to FAT32 and isn't a hard process - and the filesystem isn't plagued with issues.

I truly do not understand it.

It costs nothing to keep using exFAT & I haven't been plagued by issues.

Partly it's hilarious posts like these that keep me from doing it.

The reason is exFAT has a high rate of data corruption everywhere due to not having any journaling (which Fat32 has and a lot of other file systems)

Also because it was reported that the issue affects FAT32 as well as exFAT anyway. I suspect it shows up more on exFAT because it uses a free space bitmap as well as a file allocation table for speed and if they get out of sync then things go very bad, FAT32 has two copies of the file allocation table but in reality they both get written at the same time and the 2nd one is ignored unless there is a hard read error.

 

[Deleted User]

My experience:
Buy a switch
install system 7.0.0 + exFat, Atmosphère + various homebrew
Random crashes happen, file corruption / disappear for 3 days.
Install the OpenSource sdk, make code, compile run. run ok. run crash. run ok. run crash. Then never run again.
I was thinking "WTF seriously?"

Format sdcard to fat32, redo Atmosphère installation, homebrew, code compilation.
The wtf never happened again.

Just f*** exFAT. I understood when my code was running fine using nxlink, and then crash when started from the sd card.
This thing is just a little troll inside your switch and it will make you crazy.

 

[Deleted User]

My experience:
Buy a switch
install system 7.0.0 + exFat, Atmosphère + various homebrew
Random crashes happen, file corruption / disappear for 3 days.
Install the OpenSource sdk, make code, compile run. run ok. run crash. run ok. run crash. Then never run again.
I was thinking "WTF seriously?"

Format sdcard to fat32, redo Atmosphère installation, homebrew, code compilation.
The wtf never happened again.

Just f*** exFAT. I understood when my code was running fine using nxlink, and then crash when started from the sd card.
This thing is just a little troll inside your switch and it will make you crazy.

Bet this happens with a ton of fake cards on both formats

Best bet is try both and go with serves you best

 

[Deleted User]

Bet this happens with a ton of fake cards on both formats

You mean I have a fake sd card ? Anyway it's a 128Gb sd card I used on my DJI Spark, and it work perfect. She actually have the 128GB space. I'm not buying crap sdcard on ebay.

 

[Deleted User]

You mean I have a fake sd card ? Anyway it's a 128Gb sd card I used on my DJI Spark, and it work perfect. She actually have the 128GB space. I'm not buying crap sdcard on ebay.

Not specific to you just people with fake cards and issues

 

[Deleted User]

Ah ok Better to avoid exFAT. If in fat32 you have issue, query the sdcard then

 

[smf]

Ah ok Better to avoid exFAT. If in fat32 you have issue, query the sdcard then

Always rule out sdcard issues by running h2testw first, no matter what file system you use.

 

[davidgf]

I used exFat until last week on v7.0.1 to develop the switch port of reicast. While I see it has improved (from v5) exfat still causes corruption even on read-only situations.
it has.made debugging hard sometimes since it would corrupt my disc images and therefore games would crash making me think it was an emulation bug rather than a malformed image.
fat32 seems to be more reliable albeit slower at write operations. I assume theres some synchronization fences to the FAT table to avoid data loss (win and linux also do that, they prefer less performance for better reliability).

 

[Arithmatics]

I have no idea why anyone defends exFAT or uses it with such vitriol against FAT32. It costs nothing to switch to FAT32 and isn't a hard process - and the filesystem isn't plagued with issues.

I truly do not understand it.

isn't it a pain splitting files greater than 4gb?.

 

[Ferris1000]

I formated my 400gb MicroSD Card with the fat32 filesystem just 2 weeks ago.

The reason was because more and more games got corrupted. I didn’t even used any Homebrews except sx os menu to install nsp packages since 2-3 month.
First corruption appeared on smash bros, then pokemon and so on. At the end there where more than 5 games corrupted simultaneously and I was really pissed that I need to reinstall the games over and over again.

After I reformatted my microSD card with fat32 everything works fine and since then no games got corrupted.

Please DON’T USE EXFAT if you don’t want to waste your time on reinstalling you games over and over again.

Whatever other people say, exFAT in the switch is bad implemented. Even if you didn’t had any issues yet, it’s coming sooner or later...I promise. It took a while until I noticed that my files got corrupted.

 

[Sonikkua]

Corruption did happen to me once, using RetroArch, so I just went with the developers recommendation. No problems since switching to FAT32, better just to err on the side of caution.

https://twitter.com/libretro/status/1049817093053538304?lang=en

 

[m4a2t0t]

I've modded over 25 switches and my personal switch have ALL been exFAT and not a single corrupted SD card. All of them have multiple emulators. I ONLY buy Sandisk SD cards. Honestly I'd suspect fake SD cards and/or low quality cards are the main issue.

 

[Kubez]

Hi, i wanna create a machine for retro gaming, using Retroarch and my Switch, i have an exFat SD and i wanna keep it like this so i can still install NSP, will i have any problem like sd corruption? I read many people having this issue, how can i avoid it without using a Fat32 sd?

Use fat32, and install nsps using either split nsp or usb install.

 

[astrodraco]

It costs nothing to keep using exFAT & I haven't been plagued by issues.

Partly it's hilarious posts like these that keep me from doing it.

The reason is exFAT has a high rate of data corruption everywhere due to not having any journaling (which Fat32 has and a lot of other file systems)

Also because it was reported that the issue affects FAT32 as well as exFAT anyway. I suspect it shows up more on exFAT because it uses a free space bitmap as well as a file allocation table for speed and if they get out of sync then things go very bad, FAT32 has two copies of the file allocation table but in reality they both get written at the same time and the 2nd one is ignored unless there is a hard read error.

Your response would make more sense if it was rooted in how exFAT is shown to be on-par with FAT32. Your reason for not using it is that you haven't been plagued by issues, but that alone solidifies that it is a common problem. If someone says you can have one car that runs fine, or another car that runs fine until you do one time too often, why would you choose the broken car? There's no advantages to it.

If using a filesystem on your Switch out of some inane spite in retaliation to people who post on a forum brings you joy, then by all means. It's just beyond me that that's the route being taken.

 

[smf]

Your response would make more sense if it was rooted in how exFAT is shown to be on-par with FAT32.

You'll have to explain what you mean by that, because AFAIK neither exFAT or FAT32 is flushed properly.

Your reason for not using it is that you haven't been plagued by issues, but that alone solidifies that it is a common problem.

How can the people who haven't had issues solidify anything?

If someone says you can have one car that runs fine, or another car that runs fine until you do one time too often, why would you choose the broken car? There's no advantages to it.

Lambourghini's randomly catch fire, you have trouble parking them anywhere, cost a fortune on fuel and to insure, if someone offered me one then I would take it in an instant.

I guess you'd choose a lesser car, but they can catch fire too.

If using a filesystem on your Switch out of some inane spite in retaliation to people who post on a forum brings you joy, then by all means. It's just beyond me that that's the route being taken.

Nice strawman. Enjoy your "journaled" FAT32.

 

[Ferris1000]

I've modded over 25 switches and my personal switch have ALL been exFAT and not a single corrupted SD card. All of them have multiple emulators. I ONLY buy Sandisk SD cards. Honestly I'd suspect fake SD cards and/or low quality cards are the main issue.

i also buy just original sandisk cards in trusted local stores but exFAT corruption happen over time. Just because you had no issues at the same day doesn't says that no issues happen in the future.
A lot of my customers complained after a while that their games got corrupted and needed to be reinstalled.
In a few weeks or a few month the corruption gonna start to happen because every time when a Nintendo Switch crashes with an error (what happen because Horizon OS isn't perfect) there is a high risk that the games gets corrupted.

I had the curroption twice with a 200gb Sandisk mircroSD Card and a 400gb Sandisk mircroSD card on the same Nintendo Switch Console.
Both of the microSD Cards has been reformated and the first 1mb cleaned with the zzBlank image to make sure that the old MBR is completely removed before i formated the card.

If someone doesn't know how to install NSP Files without splitting the files there is a nice and a faster sollution than copy the Files to your SD card and install it afterwards.

1. Download SX server
2. Start SX server, change the directory to the location where your NSP Packages are and click on Scan.
2.1 If your games won't be detected the game name structure is wron it need to be like "Zaccaria Pinball [010092400a678000][v0]".
2.2 Use Switch Backup Manager and change name Auto renaming to CDNSP GUI format to. You'll find this option under "File > Options > Auto renaming > NSP files"
2.3 Then click on e-Shop and click on "Update local database"
2.4 Mark all Files by pressing "CTRL + A", right click and then auto rename files.
2.5 Go back to SX Server and click scan again, your games should be correctly detected, now.
3. Use SX installer or tinfoil and configure the nut server on your switch.
4. You should now be able to install all your NSP over Wifi or LAN using SX installer or Tinfoil.

This is difinetly the fastes and safest way to instal nsp files on your switch, because you write just to your SD card just once instead of twice.

 

[Deleted User]

i also buy just original sandisk cards in trusted local stores but exFAT corruption happen over time. Just because you had no issues at the same day doesn't says that no issues happen in the future.
A lot of my customers complained after a while that their games got corrupted and needed to be reinstalled.
In a few weeks or a few month the corruption gonna start to happen because every time when a Nintendo Switch crashes with an error (what happen because Horizon OS isn't perfect) there is a high risk that the games gets corrupted.

I had the curroption twice with a 200gb Sandisk mircroSD Card and a 400gb Sandisk mircroSD card on the same Nintendo Switch Console.
Both of the microSD Cards has been reformated and the first 1mb cleaned with the zzBlank image to make sure that the old MBR is completely removed before i formated the card.

If someone doesn't know how to install NSP Files without splitting the files there is a nice and a faster sollution than copy the Files to your SD card and install it afterwards.

1. Download SX server
2. Start SX server, change the directory to the location where your NSP Packages are and click on Scan.
2.1 If your games won't be detected the game name structure is wron it need to be like "Zaccaria Pinball [010092400a678000][v0]".
2.2 Use Switch Backup Manager and change name Auto renaming to CDNSP GUI format to. You'll find this option under "File > Options > Auto renaming > NSP files"
2.3 Then click on e-Shop and click on "Update local database"
2.4 Mark all Files by pressing "CTRL + A", right click and then auto rename files.
2.5 Go back to SX Server and click scan again, your games should be correctly detected, now.
3. Use SX installer or tinfoil and configure the nut server on your switch.
4. You should now be able to install all your NSP over Wifi or LAN using SX installer or Tinfoil.

This is difinetly the fastes and safest way to instal nsp files on your switch, because you write just to your SD card just once instead of twice.

Been modding since day 1 over 300 done all exfat 0 issues from all

Exfat gang!

 

[Clapmaster]

Yeah last summer I started my Switch hacking with exfat and it went good for a couple months. When I started messing around with retroarch and transferring it to the card about 90% of the contents of the card became corrupted so I had to go fat32 and reinstall everything. Haven't had corruption since. Use goldleaf over usb to install your nsp.