Tutorial  Updated

Move emuMMC to a larger SD card on macOS

I’ve recently moved my emuMMC hidden partition from a 64 gig card to a 200 one, without losing any homebrews, games, saves, neither from emuMMC nor from sysNAND.
I’ve done this on Mac, but should be applicable to any Unix system.
Maybe some steps are unnecessary and could be skipped, but that’s how I did it. Feel free to comment.

As usual, be sure to have a backup of everything, I’m not responsible for any loss, blah blah blah. Read the whole guide before doing it, please.
We’re not modifying the old SD card in any way, so it should still work as usual, but, you know, just in case.


The guide is split in a few big ideas :
  1. Backup the whole old SD card
  2. Prepare the new SD card
  3. Restore the old hidden partition from the old SD on the new one
  4. Update the emuMMC configuration on the new SD card


Backup the whole old SD card
  1. Put your old SD in your computer
  2. Copy every files from your old SD card visible partition to a new folder on your desktop.
  3. Backup the emuMMC partition to a file on your desktop :
    1. Find the hidden emuMMC partition name using this command in the terminal :
      diskutil list
      Search for your SD card in the disk list, then the emuMMC partition (should be 32gig or so) in this disk.
      The identifier is something like diskXsY.
    2. Run the this command in the terminal :
      sudo dd if=/dev/diskXsY conv=sync,noerror bs=1M status=progress > ~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin


Prepare the new SD card
  1. Put your new SD card one the computer
  2. Find the disk number using the command
    diskutil list
    Search for your SD card in the disk list.
    The identifier should be something like diskX
  3. Run this command in the terminal :
    sudo diskutil partitionDisk diskX MBR ms-dos SMICROSD R ms-dos EMUMMC 61124608S
  4. Move all the files you saved from the visible partition the the new partition named SMICROSD
  5. Put your new SD card in your Switch
  6. Boot your switch to Hekate
  7. Tap on the emuMMC button on the right, then Create emuMMC, SD Partition to create a new emuMMC from stock.
    Note: There might be a faster way to prepare the SD partition, but this one worked for me.


Restore the old hidden partition from the old SD on the new one
  1. Put your SD card back in your computer
  2. Find the hidden emuMMC partition name using this command in the terminal :
    diskutil list
    Search for your SD card in the disk list, then the emuMMC partition (should be 32gig or so) in this disk.
    The identifier is something like diskXsY.
  3. Run this command in the terminal :
    sudo dd if=~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin bs=1M of=/dev/diskXsY status=progress


Update the emuMMC configuration on the new SD card
  1. Put your new SD card in the Switch
  2. Boot to Hekate
  3. Tap on the emuMMC button on the right, then on Migrate emuMMC. Then on Change emuMMC and SD RAW 1
  4. Go back to Hekate’s home page, Tools (on the top), Archive bit (on the bottom), then Fix archive bit

Boot emuMMC and sysNAND to check.

Everything should be working :).
 
Last edited by DCMaxxx,

drummerkidd

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I get dd: bs: illegal numeric value. I read online that changing 1M to 1m may fix the issue but then I get dd: unknown operand status any suggestions?
 
Last edited by drummerkidd,

phfr97

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Is the same for me, have you figured out how to solve it?
This is how I did it and worked, I hop it helps:

MBP-de-Pedro:~ PedroRangel$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *240.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Mac OS X 239.2 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *63.9 GB disk1

1: Windows_NTFS SD 32.5 GB disk1s1

2: 0xE0 31.3 GB disk1s2

MBP-de-Pedro:~ PedroRangel$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s2 conv=sync,noerror bs=1m > ~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin

Password:

29856+0 records in

29856+0 records out

31306285056 bytes transferred in 4215.939469 secs (7425696 bytes/sec)

MBP-de-Pedro:~ PedroRangel$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *240.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Mac OS X 239.2 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *255.9 GB disk1

1: Windows_NTFS 255.8 GB disk1s1

MBP-de-Pedro:~ PedroRangel$ diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk1 MBR ms-dos SMICROSD R ms-dos EMUMMC 61124608S

Started partitioning on disk1

Unmounting disk

Creating the partition map

Waiting for the disks to reappear

Formatting disk1s1 as MS-DOS (FAT) with name SMICROSD

512 bytes per physical sector

/dev/rdisk1s1: 438513024 sectors in 6851766 FAT32 clusters (32768 bytes/cluster)

bps=512 spc=64 res=32 nft=2 mid=0xf8 spt=32 hds=255 hid=2 drv=0x80 bsec=438620160 bspf=53530 rdcl=2 infs=1 bkbs=6

Mounting disk

Formatting disk1s2 as MS-DOS (FAT) with name EMUMMC

512 bytes per physical sector

/dev/rdisk1s2: 61094720 sectors in 1909210 FAT32 clusters (16384 bytes/cluster)

bps=512 spc=32 res=32 nft=2 mid=0xf8 spt=32 hds=255 hid=438620163 drv=0x80 bsec=61124605 bspf=14916 rdcl=2 infs=1 bkbs=6

Mounting disk

Finished partitioning on disk1

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *255.9 GB disk1

1: DOS_FAT_32 SMICROSD 224.6 GB disk1s1

2: DOS_FAT_32 EMUMMC 31.3 GB disk1s2

MBP-de-Pedro:~ PedroRangel$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *240.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Mac OS X 239.2 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *255.9 GB disk1

1: DOS_FAT_32 SMICROSD 224.6 GB disk1s1

2: 0xE0 31.3 GB disk1s2

MBP-de-Pedro:~ PedroRangel$ sudo dd if=~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin bs=1m of=/dev/disk1s2

Password:

dd: /dev/disk1s2: end of device

29847+0 records in

29846+0 records out

31295799296 bytes transferred in 3975.061066 secs (7873036 bytes/sec)
 

kruptah

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I've run this command:

sudo dd if=/dev/disk2s2 conv=sync,noerror bs=1m > ~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin

Now I'm wondering if anything is happening? I don't see a bin file yet on my desktop.

Terminal says there's a process running upon trying to quit.

Is this the only way to move emuMMC to a larger microSD on OS X?

Surprised there's not more replies in this thread.
 
Last edited by kruptah,

ManuAlmr

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I’ve recently moved my emuMMC hidden partition from a 64 gig card to a 200 one, without losing any homebrews, games, saves, neither from emuMMC nor from sysNAND.
I’ve done this on Mac, but should be applicable to any Unix system.
Maybe some steps are unnecessary and could be skipped, but that’s how I did it. Feel free to comment.

As usual, be sure to have a backup of everything, I’m not responsible for any loss, blah blah blah. Read the whole guide before doing it, please.
We’re not modifying the old SD card in any way, so it should still work as usual, but, you know, just in case.


The guide is split in a few big ideas :
  1. Backup the whole old SD card
  2. Prepare the new SD card
  3. Restore the old hidden partition from the old SD on the new one
  4. Update the emuMMC configuration on the new SD card


Backup the whole old SD card
  1. Put your old SD in your computer
  2. Copy every files from your old SD card visible partition to a new folder on your desktop.
  3. Backup the emuMMC partition to a file on your desktop :
    1. Find the hidden emuMMC partition name using this command in the terminal :
      diskutil list
      Search for your SD card in the disk list, then the emuMMC partition (should be 32gig or so) in this disk.
      The identifier is something like diskXsY.
    2. Run the this command in the terminal :
      sudo dd if=/dev/diskXsY conv=sync,noerror bs=1M status=progress > ~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin


Prepare the new SD card
  1. Put your new SD card one the computer
  2. Find the disk number using the command
    diskutil list
    Search for your SD card in the disk list.
    The identifier should be something like diskX
  3. Run this command in the terminal :
    sudo diskutil partitionDisk diskX MBR ms-dos SMICROSD R ms-dos EMUMMC 61124608S
  4. Move all the files you saved from the visible partition the the new partition named SMICROSD
  5. Put your new SD card in your Switch
  6. Boot your switch to Hekate
  7. Tap on the emuMMC button on the right, then Create emuMMC, SD Partition to create a new emuMMC from stock.
    Note: There might be a faster way to prepare the SD partition, but this one worked for me.


Restore the old hidden partition from the old SD on the new one
  1. Put your SD card back in your computer
  2. Find the hidden emuMMC partition name using this command in the terminal :
    diskutil list
    Search for your SD card in the disk list, then the emuMMC partition (should be 32gig or so) in this disk.
    The identifier is something like diskXsY.
  3. Run this command in the terminal :
    sudo dd if=~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin bs=1M of=/dev/diskXsY status=progress


Update the emuMMC configuration on the new SD card
  1. Put your new SD card in the Switch
  2. Boot to Hekate
  3. Tap on the emuMMC button on the right, then on Migrate emuMMC. Then on Change emuMMC and SD RAW 1
  4. Go back to Hekate’s home page, Tools (on the top), Archive bit (on the bottom), then Fix archive bit

Boot emuMMC and sysNAND to check.

Everything should be working :).
Great! Thank you. It works perfectly. I've replaced 1M with 1m and removed the status=progress because it always throws an error, but at the end I have my new 256gb microsd working with my old emuMMC. Thanks ;)
 

spellord

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I did it all the process, but when I try to launch fuse, I get this error

Invalid GPT signature

Does anyone know how to fix it?
 

charlitobandito

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I’ve recently moved my emuMMC hidden partition from a 64 gig card to a 200 one, without losing any homebrews, games, saves, neither from emuMMC nor from sysNAND.
I’ve done this on Mac, but should be applicable to any Unix system.
Maybe some steps are unnecessary and could be skipped, but that’s how I did it. Feel free to comment.

As usual, be sure to have a backup of everything, I’m not responsible for any loss, blah blah blah. Read the whole guide before doing it, please.
We’re not modifying the old SD card in any way, so it should still work as usual, but, you know, just in case.


The guide is split in a few big ideas :
  1. Backup the whole old SD card
  2. Prepare the new SD card
  3. Restore the old hidden partition from the old SD on the new one
  4. Update the emuMMC configuration on the new SD card


Backup the whole old SD card
  1. Put your old SD in your computer
  2. Copy every files from your old SD card visible partition to a new folder on your desktop.
  3. Backup the emuMMC partition to a file on your desktop :
    1. Find the hidden emuMMC partition name using this command in the terminal :
      diskutil list
      Search for your SD card in the disk list, then the emuMMC partition (should be 32gig or so) in this disk.
      The identifier is something like diskXsY.
    2. Run the this command in the terminal :
      sudo dd if=/dev/diskXsY conv=sync,noerror bs=1M status=progress > ~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin


Prepare the new SD card
  1. Put your new SD card one the computer
  2. Find the disk number using the command
    diskutil list
    Search for your SD card in the disk list.
    The identifier should be something like diskX
  3. Run this command in the terminal :
    sudo diskutil partitionDisk diskX MBR ms-dos SMICROSD R ms-dos EMUMMC 61124608S
  4. Move all the files you saved from the visible partition the the new partition named SMICROSD
  5. Put your new SD card in your Switch
  6. Boot your switch to Hekate
  7. Tap on the emuMMC button on the right, then Create emuMMC, SD Partition to create a new emuMMC from stock.
    Note: There might be a faster way to prepare the SD partition, but this one worked for me.


Restore the old hidden partition from the old SD on the new one
  1. Put your SD card back in your computer
  2. Find the hidden emuMMC partition name using this command in the terminal :
    diskutil list
    Search for your SD card in the disk list, then the emuMMC partition (should be 32gig or so) in this disk.
    The identifier is something like diskXsY.
  3. Run this command in the terminal :
    sudo dd if=~/Desktop/emuMMC.bin bs=1M of=/dev/diskXsY status=progress


Update the emuMMC configuration on the new SD card
  1. Put your new SD card in the Switch
  2. Boot to Hekate
  3. Tap on the emuMMC button on the right, then on Migrate emuMMC. Then on Change emuMMC and SD RAW 1
  4. Go back to Hekate’s home page, Tools (on the top), Archive bit (on the bottom), then Fix archive bit

Boot emuMMC and sysNAND to check.

Everything should be working :).

I followed the instructions exactly to migrate from a 500gb to a 1tb microSD.

However, when I booted Hekate / Atmosphere afterwards, it starts up but all of the game tiles were missing the artwork thumbnail and were not responsive.

Any suggestions on what could have gone wrong?
 

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