3DS:Recovering save data

This page is a guide on how to salvage save data from SD cards that didn't go through Finalizing Setup and have no homebrew applications installed, or to those that have found their SD card to be corrupted. Two common signs of corruption are HOME Menu applications disappearing after the SD card was interacted with, and issues with applications, such as broken banners or icons in the HOME Menu, Luma ErrDisps stating the SD card was removed, as well as unknown applications displaying in Data Management.

Section I - Recovering save data

What You Need

• The latest release of Checkpoint (the .3dsx file)
• The latest release of Luma3DS

Prep Work

1. Power off your console
2. Insert your SD card into your computer
3. Copy Checkpoint.3dsx to the 3ds folder on your SD card (not to the Nintendo 3DS folder)
   • create a 3ds folder if it does not already exist
4. Copy boot.firm, boot.3dsx and the config folder from the Luma3DS .zip to the root of your sd card
5. Reinsert your SD card into your console

Recovering

1. Power on your console
2. Follow the instructions to manually enter Homebrew Launcher
3. Launch Checkpoint
4. Hold B to refresh games list
5. Hold Y to select all game saves
6. Press Left Shoulder to backup all game saves
7. Press X to switch to extdata
8. Hold B to refresh games list
9. Hold Y to select all game extdata
10. Press Left Shoulder to backup all game extdata
11. Power off your console
12. Reinsert your SD card into your computer
13. Open the 3ds folder on your SD card and copy the Checkpoint folder to a safe place on your computer

If your SD card was showing corruption signs, it is extremely advised to format your SD card, test it for errors and restore Luma on an empty SD card before proceeding to restore your save data. Do NOT reuse a card that was showing corruption signs if it failed the integrity checks.

Do NOT restore your corrupted Nintendo 3DS folder to the new setup, or errors and further corruption are likely to keep happening.

Section II - Restoring save data

If you're restoring your save data from a corrupted setup to an empty SD card, or if you do not have Checkpoint already installed, continue to Finalizing Setup before following the instructions below.

What You Need

• A checkpoint folder with save backups (such as the one created in section I)
• Checkpoint installed to your console

Prep Work

1. Power off your console
2. Insert your SD card into your computer
3. Copy the Checkpoint folder from your computer to to the 3ds folder on your SD card (not to the Nintendo 3DS folder)
   • create a 3ds folder if it does not already exist
4. Reinsert your SD card into your console

Restoring

1. Power on your console
2. Install each game you would like to restore save data for
3. Open each game individually to initialize save data
4. Close any running applications and return to HOME Menu
5. Launch Checkpoint from your HOME Menu
6. Hold B to refresh games list
7. Press A on the game you want to restore save data for
8. Select the backup created on Section I
9. Press Right Shoulder to restore
10. Repeat steps 7-9 for all game saves
11. Press X to switch to extdata
12. Hold B to refresh games list
13. Press A on the game you want to restore extdata for
14. Select the backup created on Section I
15. Press Right Shoulder to restore
16. Repeat steps 13-15 for all game extdata