User:KittyCatGabbi/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.

What You Need

The v3.7.4 release of Checkpoint (the .3dsx file)

Prep Work

Power off your console
Insert your SD card into your computer
Copy Checkpoint.3dsx to the /3ds folder of your SD card (not Nintendo 3DS)
Reinsert your SD card into your console

Section I - Recovering

Power on your console
Follow the instructions to manually enter Homebrew Launcher
Launch Checkpoint
Hold B to refresh games list
Hold Y to select all games
Press Left Shoulder to backup all saves
Press X to switch to extdata
Hold B to refresh game list
Hold Y to select all game extdata
Press Left Shoulder to backup all game extdata
Power off your console
Copy the /3ds/Checkpoint folder of your SD card to a safe place in 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 restore your Nintendo 3DS folder to the new setup, or errors and further corruption are likely to keep happening.

Section II - Restoring

If you're restoring your save data from a corrupted SD card, or if you do not have Checkpoint already installed, run Finalizing Setup before following the instructions in the section below.

Power off your console
Insert your SD card into your computer
Copy the /3ds/Checkpoint folder from your computer to your SD card
Reinsert your SD card into your console
Power on your console
Open each game individually and create a dummy save file in them
Close any running applications and return to HOME Menu
Launch Checkpoint
Hold B to refresh games list
Press A on the game you want to restore save data for
Select the backup created on Section I
Press Right Shoulder to restore
Repeat steps 10-12 for all games
Press X to switch to extdata
Hold B to refresh game extdata list
Press A on the game you want to restore extdata for
Select the backup created on Section I
Press Right Shoulder to restore
Repeat steps 16-18 for all game extdata