Nintendo 3DS - 3DS XL data transfer

Good afternoon all!

I'm about to pick up a New 3DS XL Galaxy for the missus, and we have a data transfer issue.

Her old 3DS had a 2GB SD card, which has data on it that she doesn't want to lose. She recently bought Pokemon X from the eShop, and had to put it on a new 32GB SD card. Switching the cards out on the old 3DS hasn't been a problem, but on the New 3DS XL you have to open up the battery part of the case with a screwdriver - not very user friendly, especially for frequent card changes! So we're looking to consolidate all the data onto the 32GB card.

Transferring the files via Windows Explorer doesn't seem to work - only Pokemon is detected.

The IGN guide to data transfers seems to indicates that the old 3DS' 2GB card will be prompted for insertion into the new 3DS. Will it screw everything up if I don't do that?

Will it be a problem if the card that the old data transfers to already has some 3DS data (PKMN X) on it?

Have you been swapping between the 2GB and 32GB SD cards on the Old 3DS? You can't merge data from two different SD cards. It would have been better to use Windows Explorer to copy everything from the 2GB card to the 32GB card before downloading Pokémon X. You should still be able to redownload Pokémon X, if you bought it from the eShop using your NNID, once you move all the data from the 2GB card to a micro SD card which you can then put into the New 3DS.

Bear in mind that you'll need to do a system transfer from the Old 3DS to the New one, with the 2GB card still in the Old 3DS, before you can play your games.

You can only insert the SD card from your Old 3DS into the New one if it's a micro SD card. In this case, you do the system transfer and then remove the micro SD card from the Old 3DS and put it into the New 3DS. If you have a normal sized SD card in your Old 3DS, you'll need to do a system transfer to copy over your save files. It takes a while to copy over games so you can choose to just redownload the actual games from the eShop later and just transfer things like save files.

We tried to swap data, but the data didn't just fall into the appropriate folder, instead creating duplicate 3DS/DCIM folders, so we just deleted what was transferred.

Can the N3DSXL actually take a full sized SD card inside it, or do I need to buy a MicroSD card for expanded storage space? I was under the impression that it was like its little predecessor in that you could just slot a normal SD card in.

All I want is to have the data from these 2 SD cards in one place. I mean, could I not get a Micro SD, then perform two system transfers to move the two SD cards' save data over?

Beyond the save files she obviously doesn't want to lose, on the 2GB card she has Story of Seasons and a Phoenix Wright game, and on the 32GB she has PKMN X - all from the eShop. I guess that she'll need to re-download all three, but she's going to be devastated if she has to choose between losing 40+ hours of Pokemon play, or hundreds of hours between the other two titles.

The New 3DS and New 3DS XL only take micro SD cards. You need to remove the lower cover plate to access the micro SD card slot. There's no SD card slot.

I hate to say it but you can't merge data from two different SD cards. If there's a Nintendo Network ID on the 3DS, you can check the games that are tied to it from the eShop. You'll be able to redownload these or transfer them to the New 3DS.

Is there a manual way to transfer game saves? I don't mind re-downloading the games, but to tell her that she has to just give up on hundreds of game hours is not an option.

You can probably work something out with homebrew but I don't know any more than someone posted on NeoGaf saying that he manually backed up his saves after installing homebrew.

I've just ordered a microSD for delivery on Tuesday. It won't have any game data on it, so I know that I should be able to transfer the 2GB SD card's data (games & saves both?) over to it via System Transfer, and re-downloading PKMN from the eShop shouldn't be a problem either, so I guess it's just the Pokemon save data that I'll need to transfer. I assume that I can't just take the 2GB card out of the Old 3DS and put the 32GB card in and expect it to transfer over the same way... but there has to be a way to get it over, surely?

Alvin Flummux wrote:I've just ordered a microSD for delivery on Tuesday. It won't have any game data on it, so I know that I should be able to transfer the 2GB SD card's data (games & saves both?)

Follow these steps to transfer data from the Old 3DS and the 2GB card to the New 3DS and the micro SD card.
http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com ... n=sHBEMPZm

Re-downloading PKMN from the eShop

As long as it's attached to your NNID.

It's just the Pokemon save data that I'll need to transfer.

I have no idea how you would do this.

I assume that I can't just take the 2GB card out of the Old 3DS and put the 32GB card in and expect it to transfer over the same way... but there has to be a way to get it over, surely?

I don't know if I'm following you. Whichever SD card you use, the data from only one can be transferred to the New 3DS.

I guess that we can just keep the old 3DS and old 2GB SD card for use on it, as she's only really interested in playing Phoenix Wright on it, and she's more or less done with Story of Seasons. We were going to trade it in at GameStop for $52 cash, but whatever works best with the least amount of stress will be our path forward. So it looks like the PKMN SD card will be getting the system transfer treatment - I hope the save data goes with it!

Speaking of, I have another question: Do physical game releases store their save data on their own carts, or are all 3DS game saves, be they cart or download, saved on the SD card?

The save data is on the cartridge.

Alvin Flummux wrote:...I have another question: Do physical game releases store their save data on their own carts, or are all 3DS game saves, be they cart or download, saved on the SD card?

> Game saves for cart games are stored on the carts; for downloadable games they're stored on the storage card

> If there is any free game update data released for a game than it will be stored on the storage card. If you then used the game cart on another 3DS the update data could be re-downloaded to the newer machine's storage card

> If there is any paid-for expansion data released for a game than it will be stored on the storage card. You would need to have carried out a system transfer if you wanted to access this data on another machine

Basically, carts can be used on any 3DS but downloads - games and expansions - require a system transfer to take place.

EDIT: Nintendo has released utility programs that copy saved game data from the cart to your storage card; i.e. for people who started out with a cart version and want to switch to a download version. These utilities, if available, are stored alongside the game in the eShop.

I don't think she's bought any DLC for her cart-based games, but I'll make sure that when the Animal Crossing update hits, that she's using her N3DSXL at that moment.

Nintendo 3DS - 3DS XL data transfer

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