Hacking Switching SD Cards

[JohnTravolski]

I don't do too much with my custom firmware, but here're the specs:

Old Nintendo 3DS XL (NES Edition) (United States)
SysNAND version 4.2
EmuNAND version 11.0
I used the DS Profile glitch to get into RxTools version 2.6 which I use to access EmuNAND
I have the SaveDataFiler.cia installed in EmuNAND and use it regularly.

That's about it.

My SD card with all of this is only 8GB. Let's say that I want to put everything on a bigger one (maybe 32 or 64 GB). Is it safe to simply copy over the entire SD card (all of its files on the root directory) onto a new one (that's been formatted first) and then put it directly into the 3DS? Will everything work perfectly as if I hadn't changed SD cards at all? Or will I have to set something up again? I just haven't messed around with any of this for so long that I've forgotten all of the steps to take. Now that the RXTools website launcher doesn't work anymore (launch.rxtools.net), I don't know what I would do to set it up again in case something goes horribly wrong when I switch SD cards.

 

[Temarile]

To switch to a bigger sd card with an Emunand you need to backup your Emunand, then remove the Emunand partition on your smaller sd card and then inject Emunand into the new sd card and copy all the files over.
I recommend updating your sysnand to 9.2 and use menuhax to autoboot in your Emunand as it will significantly reduce your boot time. Also, if you're scared of rxtools breaking you could go with a newer cfw, such as Luma3DS (doesn't work on 4.x though) It's really easy: download the Luma3DS github files, remove all rxtools files (you can back them up if you want to) and copy all Luma files to the appropriate place on your sd card. You can check the Luma3DS wiki for all the other info you could need.

Oh and if you really want better boot rates and the most out of the 3ds then you can install a9lh which gives you a 100% boot rate and brick protection and faster boot and no need for Emunand (which would save a lot of space on your small sd card!) and every patch you could possibly want and run certain programs from boot (without going to the home menu) such as decrypt9 / hourglass9 / uncart

 

[JohnTravolski]

I appreciate the response. I'm just so unfamiliar with most of this (since I haven't had to set up my hacked system in over a year) that I'm afraid I'll mess something up. I may just stay with what I've got. I'd really rather not risk losing what I have.

 

[Jayro]

I went from a 16GB card, to a 32GB card. Just had to image over the entire 16GB SD to the 32GB SD to preserve emuNAND, then formatted the FAT32 partition manually, and copied my files over like normal.

 

[JohnTravolski]

I went from a 16GB card, to a 32GB card. Just had to image over the entire 16GB SD to the 32GB SD to preserve emuNAND, then formatted the FAT32 partition manually, and copied my files over like normal.

Sorry for not entirely understanding, but what exactly do you mean by "image over?" How do you do that? Also, if you formatted the SD card to FAT32, wouldn't you lose whatever it was that you imaged over?

 

[Jayro]

Sorry for not entirely understanding, but what exactly do you mean by "image over?" How do you do that? Also, if you formatted the SD card to FAT32, wouldn't you lose whatever it was that you imaged over?

I used this: http://www.alexpage.de/usb-image-tool/

It copies the emunand and everything. But I found that using a partitioning tool to expand the FAT32 partition breaks emuNAND, so I just delete the FAT32 partition afterwards, and make a new one. Then copy the files manually.

 

[JohnTravolski]

So does using that tool create multiple partitions on the SD card? I'm just not sure where this FAT32 partition that you're talking about it coming from.

 

[Jayro]

Your SD card is laid out like this:

The unallocated space is your emuNAND, the rest is your FAT32 partition with your files on it.

 

[JohnTravolski]

Oh, okay, that explains a lot! Thank you. So let me make sure that I fully understand this:

1. Put old, small 8GB SD card in computer.
2. Use the tool you linked to copy over both the EmuNAND (unallocated) and the FAT32 partition to the new, bigger SD card.
3. Use the same tool you linked to reformat the FAT32 portion (but not the unallocated portion).
4. Copy over all of the files on the old SD card (everything on the root directory) onto the new SD Card(in the FAT 32 portion).

Am I correct or am I missing something here?

 

[Jayro]

In your step 3, I just formatted it using the SD formatter tool with 64KB setting. But yes, the rest is correct.

 

[JohnTravolski]

So the "SD formatter tool with 64KB setting" won't end up formatting the EmuNAND, right? It'll give me the option to format ONLY the FAT32 portion, right?

 

[Jayro]

So the "SD formatter tool with 64KB setting" won't end up formatting the EmuNAND, right? It'll give me the option to format ONLY the FAT32 portion, right?

Yeah, correct.

 

[JohnTravolski]

Okay, thanks. So if I do this and something ends up not working on my new bigger SD card, can I put the old smaller one back in the 3DS and everything will still work perfectly again?

 

[Jayro]

Absolutely. As long as you don't do anything to the 8GB, its a backup until you get the larger card all done.

 

[JohnTravolski]

Okay, so I just used the USB Image Tool (Alex's Coding Playground) that you linked and I backed up my old SD card and restored the backup onto my new bigger SD Card. I opened the new big SD card after doing this in MiniTool Parition Wizard and this is what I saw:

It's Disk 2. So, you said that you somehow "just formatted it (the FAT32 partition) using the SD formatter tool with 64KB setting." So I have 3 questions:

• The part that says "F" 6.40GB is the FAT32 partition with all of my files, right?
• What about the other 22.4GB of Unallocated Space?
• What is the "SD formatter tool?" I have an SD Formatter program but it looks like it would format the entire card and not just that FAT32 partition. Can that partition be formatted inside of MiniTool Partition Wizard 9?

 

[Jayro]

You delete the 6.4GB partition, then make a new one that's 64KB FAT32. Then copy your files and stuff from your old card to the new card.

 

[JohnTravolski]

Which tool do I use to delete that partition though? Can Minitool Partition Wizard do it?

 

[Jayro]

I believe so. And I apologize for the delay between posts, I'm working at the moment.

 

[JohnTravolski]

That's fine, I'm just thankful that you've been willing to help me all of this time. I'm grateful for your patience. Also, do I need to do anything to the 22.4 GB Unallocated partition?

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

Whenever I delete the F: (Other) Partition (FAT32) in Minitool Partition Wizard, it automatically deletes the EmuNAND (Unallocated 1024MB) Partition along with it. I'm not sure what to do about that.

 

[wurstpistole]

You can also do it like that, directly on the 3DS.

- get Emunand9
- get into Homebrew Launcher
- start Emunand9
- backup your Emunand
- unmount your card with Select, let Emunand9 run
- copy all the contents of your card to your pc
- insert a new card into your 3ds
- create a new Emunand with Emunand9
- unmount new card, copy all the files from old card and Emunand backup to new card
- insert new card
- restore Emunand from file

Done.