Cleaning sysnand-is it necessary?

[badbaniel]

So I got an unpatched switch a few weeks ago and the only game I ever modded was smash and I never installed anything that wasn’t wi fi safe. I didn’t really know how modding my switch worked yet so I just did CFW on the sysnand. Now that I know more I want to start over and make it so where my sysnand is stock firmware and my emunand is CFW. However I never made a backup of my sysnand before I booted it up in CFW the first time. I only did it last night when I learned all this and then I realized this backup could be compromised because I didn’t do a backup of the fresh sysnad before getting loaded with CFW the first time.

I feel like my sysnand is probably clean and fine but for my peace of mind could I wipe the sysnand clean using the official unbricking guide and then make a fresh backup that’s been untouched of CFW of the newly cleaned sysnand?

Or is it unsafe and cleaning your sysnand should only be used as a last resort?

The reason I wanna use emunand is so I can mod other games safely and go online safely by installing incognito on it.

 

[RobD]

There is no way to clean a sysnand.
None of the tools that claim to do so, actually do so.

 

[kidkat210]

1) did you only install mods for games? no nps/xci/etc installed?
2) have you connected to nintendo servers?
3) what all have you done in cfw

 

[badbaniel]

1) did you only install mods for games? no nps/xci/etc installed?
2) have you connected to nintendo servers?
3) what all have you done in cfw

1) only for smash bros. Just mods like wi-fi safe character replacement mods or music replacement mods. I’m not sure what nps/xci is

2) yes just for playing smash online with my wi fi safe mods- otherwise I think I’ve only accessed the eshop when I boot up in ofw. If I did access it on CFW it was by accident but I don’t recall any times I did, only that I actively avoided it, I just can’t recall if I might’ve done it once accidentally.

3) honestly just load smash mods with atmosphere, i never used any home brew features until after I made a backup of sysnand. And since then I’ve only installed themes just tinkering around. But the backup I have is before I started using those themes.

I haven’t done anything dangerous or risky. I’ve only ever accessed online through smash arenas and quickplay. I’ve only had my unpatched switch for a few weeks now so not much has happened. Do you think I should just assume that my sysnand is probably clean since all I’ve done is mod smash?

 

[kidkat210]

Since you have connected to nintendo servers (whether you accessed the eshop or played online) nintendo has logs of your console. So if you were to wipe your sysnand, that would flag for a ban since the mismatched logs. Just backup sysnand, create an emunand, and disconnect it from ninty servers, wether you use incognito/atmosphere's incognito, dns blocker or both, up to you.