Changing microSD cards

The goal of this page is to transfer the contents from one microSD card to another one. The method to do this will differ, depending on whether you're using a partition based emuMMC on your microSD card or not.

We will be using hekate to both backup and restore the emuMMC, so make sure that you have its latest files on your microSD card already.

Checking whether you have a Partition or File based emuMMC:

You should first check whether you have a file or partition based emuMMC:

1. Enter RCM and inject the hekate payload.
   • If you use a modchipped Switch, you can simply just turn your Switch on with the hekate payload renamed to payload.bin on the root of your microSD card.
2. Tap on the emuMMC button.
3. Under emuMMC Info & Selection, check the text next to Type.
   • If you have one it should be either SD Raw Partition or SD File.
   • If you have no emuMMC, it'll be disabled.

Depending on if you're using a Partition based emuMMC or File based emuMMC/no emuMMC at all, click the corresponding tab below:

Partition based emuMMC

WARNING

Space for the backup

You need at least 30GB (or 60GB if using an OLED Switch) of free space to be able to restore the emuMMC!

What you need:

• The latest version of hekate (hekate_ctcaer_(version).zip).

On your OLD microSD card:

1. Enter RCM and inject the hekate payload.
   • If you use a modchipped Switch, you can simply just turn your Switch on with the hekate payload renamed to payload.bin on the root of your microSD card.
2. From hekate's Home menu, navigate to Tools > Backup eMMC, set SD EmuMMC Raw Partition at the bottom of your screen to ON.
3. Backup both SD emuMMC BOOT0 & BOOT1 and SD emuMMC RAW GPP (Note: SD emuMMC RAW GPP may take a while).
4. Once both are done, go back to the main menu, navigate to Tools > USB Tools > SD Card and plug your Switch into your PC via USB.
5. If Windows asks you to format a drive, discard it and open the accessible drive containing the contents of your microSD card.
6. Copy the contents of your old microSD card somewhere to your PC.

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On your NEW microSD card:

1. Copy the contents of the previously downloaded hekate .zip to the root of your new microSD card.
2. Enter RCM and inject the hekate payload.
   • If you use a modchipped Switch, you can simply just turn your Switch on with the hekate payload renamed to payload.bin on the root of your microSD card.
3. Navigate to Tools > Partition SD card once in hekate/Nyx.
4. Set the emuMMC (RAW) slider to 29 FULL in the middle of the bar.
   • Set the emuMMC (RAW) slider to 58 FULL if you're on an OLED Switch.
   • If you wish to install Android and/or Linux later, partition your microSD card here accordingly by moving the sliders you see during this step. We recommend setting the Android (USER) and Linux (EXT4) sliders to at least 16GB.
5. Navigate to Next Step at the bottom right, then select Start in the menu that appears.
   • For Android; Select Dynamic partitioning for Android 13+ and Legacy partitioning for Android 10/11. Note that Android 10/11 are no longer supported, Legacy and Dynamic partitioning are also NOT intercompatible.
6. After it’s done, return to hekate's Home menu and navigate to Tools > USB Tools > SD Card, then plug your Switch into your PC via USB.
7. Copy the backup you made of your old microSD card on your PC to your new microSD card, replacing files if/when prompted.
8. Navigate to /backup/<some characters>/emummc on your new microSD card and move BOOT0, BOOT1 and the rawnand.bin.xx files to /backup/<some characters>/restore/emummc.
9. Eject the UMS device safely from within your computer's operating system.
10. From hekate's Home menu, navigate to Tools > Restore eMMC, set SD EmuMMC Raw Partition at the bottom of your screen to ON.
11. Restore the backup by tapping on both SD emuMMC BOOT0 & BOOT1 and SD emuMMC RAW GPP (Note: SD emuMMC RAW GPP may take a while).
    • It's important that for both of these options the SD emuMMC Raw Partition option is enabled, otherwise you could be altering your sysMMC which is not what you want.
12. Your emuMMC is now restored on the new microSD card and you should be able to launch it from Launch -> Atmosphere PKG3 emuMMC in hekate.

File based emuMMC/no emuMMC at all

What you need:

• The latest version of hekate (hekate_ctcaer_(version).zip).

On your OLD microSD card:

1. Enter RCM and inject the hekate payload.
   • If you use a modchipped Switch, you can simply just turn your Switch on with the hekate payload renamed to payload.bin on the root of your microSD card.
2. Navigate to Tools > USB Tools > SD Card and plug your Switch into your PC via USB.
3. Copy the contents of your microSD card somewhere to your PC.

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On your NEW microSD card:

1. Copy the contents of the previously downloaded hekate .zip to the root of your new microSD card.
2. Enter RCM and inject the hekate payload.
   • If you use a modchipped Switch, you can simply just turn your Switch on with the hekate payload renamed to payload.bin on the root of your microSD card.
3. Format your new microSD card to FAT32 using hekate. To do so, navigate to Tools > Partition SD card once in hekate/Nyx.
4. Leave all sliders on their default values.
   • If you wish to install Android and/or Linux later, partition your microSD card here accordingly by moving the sliders you see during this step. We recommend setting the Android (USER) and Linux (EXT4) sliders to at least 16GB.
5. Navigate to Next Step at the bottom right, then select Start in the menu that appears.
   • For Android; Select Dynamic partitioning for Android 13+ and Legacy partitioning for Android 10/11. Note that Android 10/11 are no longer supported, Legacy and Dynamic partitioning are also NOT intercompatible.
6. Navigate to Tools > USB Tools > SD Card and plug your Switch into your PC via USB.
7. Copy the backup you made of your old microSD card from your PC (or directly from your old microSD card) to your new microSD card.
8. Eject the UMS device safely from within your computer's operating system.
9. You've successfully followed this guide and your emuMMC is now accessible from Launch -> Atmosphere PKG3 emuMMC in hekate.