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Princess Viola · Oct 5, 2014

Okay so basically I was playing Animal Crossing on my 3DS a bit ago and I saved and exited the game and went to the Home Menu and was told "Could not detect an SD Card. The software on the SD Card could not be displayed"

This was odd since all the software on my SD card loaded up when I turned on my 3DS, but I turned off my 3DS, took out my SD card and made sure there was no dirt on it or anything (there shouldn't have been since it basically never leaves my system), and put it back in and turned the system back on. Same message. Tried it a couple more times, same thing about not being able to detect an SD card.

So I decided to turn the system off and wait a little bit and I just tried again and, lo and behold, THE SAME MESSAGE. (This was about 15 minutes ago I tried again)

I put the SD card in my dad's laptop (my laptop's SD card reader is busted) and all of my data is still on the card, but (like I said) my 3DS won't read it.

So like, am I screwed? I bought my 3DS in June 2011 so it's out of warranty and the stupid serial sticker ended up peeling off like in 2012 anyway, so I can't even call Nintendo at all because how will they prove I didn't steal my 3DS? (I didn't, of course and even still have the original box and such)

Krejlooc · Oct 5, 2014

I know you said the card isn't dirty, but clean the contacts with rubbing alcohol. Mine started doing this and some rubbing alcohol did the trick, even though the pins looked clean.

jblank83 · Oct 5, 2014

You can still read the SD card on a PC. That's good.

If you have to get a new SD card, follow this guide:
http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/blog/2013...-upgrade-your-3ds-sd-card-to-64gb-and-beyond/

All your data is safe. You should make periodic backups of your 3DS SD card regardless.

Princess Viola · Oct 5, 2014

Krejlooc said:
I know you said the card isn't dirty, but clean the contacts with rubbing alcohol. Mine started doing this and some rubbing alcohol did the trick, even though the pins looked clean.

I'm not sure if we have rubbing alcohol (we more than 90% do) but how do I clean the contacts? Do I just put a little on a q-tip or something?

jres80 said:
You can still read the SD card on a PC. That's good.

Bad news, just tried it on my dad's laptop again and now it's telling me to format the card.

Shit.

Crimsonclaw111 · Oct 5, 2014

Shit like this is why Nintendo needs real save backup options :/

Hope you can save your data, OP.

Krejlooc · Oct 5, 2014

Aiko Heiwa said:
I'm not sure if we have rubbing alcohol (we more than 90% do) but how do I clean the contacts? Do I just put a little on a q-tip or something?

Yup.

Sakujou · Oct 5, 2014

how does nintendo handle this if there is no warranty? how much would this cost?

Neo Dark · Oct 5, 2014

Aiko Heiwa said:
So like, am I screwed? I bought my 3DS in June 2011 so it's out of warranty and the stupid serial sticker ended up peeling off like in 2012 anyway, so I can't even call Nintendo at all because how will they prove I didn't steal my 3DS? (I didn't, of course and even still have the original box and such)

In regards to the serial number question, I just checked and the box has serial number on it as well which is the same one as the one on the 3DS. Also if you had your 3DS linked to Club Nintendo, they can probably match your credentials registered on Club Nintendo via serial number and the 3DS if you have the 3DS linked to a Club Nintendo account.

I would just suggest keep trying to get it to read on a computer and try backing up all those saves and moving it onto a new SD card though since that's really what it sounds like. Try other computers as well since some have better card readers than others built in. Good luck

Starwolf_UK · Oct 5, 2014

jres80 said:
All your data is safe. You should make periodic backups of your 3DS SD card regardless.

That will not save an Animal Crossing village or Pokemon Journey though as you can only use the last save that made for those (makes you wonder why exactly have their saves on the SD card)

Aiko Heiwa said:
Bad news, just tried it on my dad's laptop again and now it's telling me to format the card.

Shit.

Do not format it. If you can get it to read normally again then copy all the data then.

The good news is if that persists then it sounds like the SD card rather than the system...

TheBaldEmperor · Oct 5, 2014

Sakujou said:
how does nintendo handle this if there is no warranty? how much would this cost?

I think the card is the problem not Nintendo. A new card would most likely work. Nintendo doesn't warranty the sd card.

jblank83 · Oct 5, 2014

Crimsonclaw111 said:
Shit like this is why Nintendo needs real save backup options :/

Hope you can save your data, OP.

1. Utilizing an open standard SD card is one of the best things Nintendo did with 3DS. Backups are easy to do, not counting the protected save issue, and not just backups of saves but entire downloads.

The main complaint here would not be ease of backing up saves and restoring in case of failure, but in having to find individual folder IDs, if you wanted to flip saves in and out.

2. 3DS does have a native save backup utility for digital games:
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/3ds/en_la/data.jsp

You can even save data and delete a game, in case you want to redownload the game in the future.

Nintendo did their job as far as allowing a user to backup and protect their save data (Animal Crossing being an exception).

Princess Viola · Oct 5, 2014

Neo Dark said:
In regards to the serial number question, I just checked and the box has serial number on it as well which is the same one as the one on the 3DS. Also if you had your 3DS linked to Club Nintendo, they can probably match your credentials registered on Club Nintendo via serial number and the 3DS if you have the 3DS linked to a Club Nintendo account.

Yeah my 3DS was linked to Club Nintendo the day I bought it and it's the only 3DS I've had linked.

Starwolf_UK said:
That will not save an Animal Crossing village or Pokemon Journey though as you can only use the last save that made for those (makes you wonder why exactly have their saves on the SD card)

I'm wondering, does that SD card restriction thing for the Animal Crossing or Pokémon saves still apply if the games are physical? Both my copy of New Leaf and Pokémon Y are the cartridge, not downloaded.

Oh, I also forgot to mention: it's actually a micro SD card in an adapter, so could it be something wrong with the adapter itself?

Starwolf_UK · Oct 5, 2014

Aiko Heiwa said:
I'm wondering, does that SD card restriction thing for the Animal Crossing or Pokémon saves still apply if the games are physical? Both my copy of New Leaf and Pokémon Y are the cartridge, not downloaded.

It doesn't as you can use those cartridges on another system. Only extra data ends up on SD card (e.g. battle replays) for cart copies.

Princess Viola · Oct 5, 2014

Starwolf_UK said:
It doesn't as you can use those cartridges on another system. Only extra data ends up on SD card (e.g. battle replays) for cart copies.

Well that's good to now at least. :\

Princess Viola · Oct 6, 2014

Krejlooc said:
I know you said the card isn't dirty, but clean the contacts with rubbing alcohol. Mine started doing this and some rubbing alcohol did the trick, even though the pins looked clean.

Double post but I think this did the trick.

Cleaned the contacts with some rubbing alcohol and I waited a little bit and now my 3DS is reading my SD card just fine~

(Still gonna backup my files just to be safe)

Crimsonclaw111 · Oct 6, 2014

jres80 said:
1. Utilizing an open standard SD card is one of the best things Nintendo did with 3DS. Backups are easy to do, not counting the protected save issue, and not just backups of saves but entire downloads.

The main complaint here would not be ease of backing up saves and restoring in case of failure, but in having to find individual folder IDs, if you wanted to flip saves in and out.

2. 3DS does have a native save backup utility for digital games:
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/3ds/en_la/data.jsp

You can even save data and delete a game, in case you want to redownload the game in the future.

Nintendo did their job as far as allowing a user to backup and protect their save data (Animal Crossing being an exception).

Animal Crossing, Pokemon, and Smash are the biggest exceptions and the games that need the backup function the most. You can spend hundreds of hours in any of those games, and then one day lose everything because they locked those saves. Unacceptable.

duckroll · Oct 6, 2014

Aiko Heiwa said:
Double post but I think this did the trick.

Cleaned the contacts with some rubbing alcohol and I waited a little bit and now my 3DS is reading my SD card just fine~

(Still gonna backup my files just to be safe)

I would suggest getting a new SD card anyway. If there's a sign that the SD card could be dying or is defective in some way, it's better to bail than to try your luck.

jblank83 · Oct 6, 2014

Crimsonclaw111 said:
Animal Crossing, Pokemon, and Smash are the biggest exceptions and the games that need the backup function the most. You can spend hundreds of hours in any of those games, and then one day lose everything because they locked those saves. Unacceptable.

I don't like it, personally. Without server side saves, it's seen as the only solution to online cheating, though.

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