User:Ihaveahax/SD card recommendations
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 | This page is a work in progress. Notes:
I tried my best to make this generic, but my knowledge is very 3DS-specific. I need other people who are experienced with other consoles to edit or provide guidance. |
This page documents recommendations for purchasing SD cards.
Brands and stores
Only well-known brands are recommended. These generally include:
- Samsung
- Kingston
- Lexar
- SanDisk (except for Wii)
Other brands may work but are not as widely tested for reliability.
Only buy brand-new SD cards. The best place would be a local brick-and-mortar store if possible, as this has the highest chance of avoiding fake cards, while also letting you get a new card in your hands immediately. Amazon is the second best place, but be wary of fake cards. Don't buy from other online marketplaces like AliExpress, Temu, or eBay.
Nintendo-branded SD cards do not offer anything different compared to other cards, and should be treated as just another option. These generally do not come with a microSD-to-SD adapter, meaning one would need to be acquired separately to use on a console that only accepts full-size SD cards.
SD cards larger than 2 TB do not currently exist (as of January 2026).
Nintendo 3DS
SD cards up to 128 GB are recommended. Anything larger will cause slowdowns, such as increased boot time.
SD cards above 32 GB must be formatted to FAT32. Use the Formatting an SD card guide to do this.
Any brand new genuine SD card will be faster than what the 3DS can handle. Class 4 (4 MB/s) is the fastest the 3DS can handle, and any cards produced today will be much faster than that. The only reason to buy faster SD cards is for data transfer speeds between PCs and other devices.
Nintendo Switch
SD cards up to 2 TB can be used.
The recommended filesystem is FAT32. Use the Formatting an SD card guide to do this. While exFAT can be used, the filesystem driver used by Nintendo is buggy and prone to corruption.
To get the fastest read speeds, get a card that is rated for UHS-I or higher.