SD Savedata Backups

Overview

Introduced in 6.0.0-11, users are able to backup savedata for titles installed to SDMC, to a maximum of 30 'slots'. Users can backup savedata while in the Home Menu, available as an option when selecting an application. In System Settings, user are able to backup, restore and delete savedata backups. There are however, restrictions.

Backups

Savedata backups are located in the directory:

sdmc:/Nintendo 3DS/<ID0>/<ID1>/backups

The savedata backup directory structure(this structure is repeated for every slot):

backups
└───XXX
    └───<Application TitleID>

  • XXX - A three digit hexadecimal number representing the slot number i.e. (000-01d).
  • <Application TitleID> - This directory contains a verbatim backup of files in the title's "data" directory(where the save file is located).

There can only be one savedata per slot, and details about the slots are recorded in Backup.dat and hence cannot manually be created. For recovery reasons, if Backup.dat is damaged, details about the backup slots will be recreated from the files in the backup directory.

Restrictions

Some titles are restricted in how their saves are backed up. These restricted saves can can only be backed up when the title is deleted and can only be restored once. GBA titles however are not allowed to be backed up at all, the reasons for this are unknown. This restriction is triggered if a certain flag in the title's icon is set. Or if the SaveID of the title is located in the ctr_backup_black_list file in the NS CFA, which is practically a Unique-ID blacklist. The titles blacklisted in the ctr_backup_black_list, are:

Regular 3DS Titles

JPN UniqueID USA UniqueID EUR UniqueID Title Name
000950 000ba8 000ba9 Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
? ? 00055d Pokemon X
? ? ? Pokemon Y
000343 000465 0004b3 Cubic Ninja
000481 000ae4 000b1d Monster Hunter 3G
0004b5 (added 6.3.0-12) ? ? Monster Hunter 4
? 00048d 0005f6 Reel Fishing 3D Paradise
0004d7 00066c 00066d Pokemon Rumble Blast
? ? 000933 Freakyforms Deluxe
? 000ae1 ? Pokemon Dream Radar
0009f6 ? ? Senran Kagura Burst: Guren no Shoujotachi
000a4d ? ? Sengoku Musou Chronicle 2nd
? ? 0008c9 Marvel Pinball 3D
000862 000863 000864 Animal Crossing: New Leaf
000321 ? ? New Love Plus
00065e ? ? Dragon Quest VII - Eden no Senshitachi
0006d2 ? ? Fantasy Life
? ? ? Dillon's Rolling Western
? ? ? Zen Pinball 3D

Virtual Console Titles

JPN UniqueID USA UniqueID EUR UniqueID Title Name
000748 000749 00074a F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
00074b 00074c 00074d Mario Kart Super Circuit
00074e 00074f 000750 Wario Land 4
000752 000753 000754 Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
000755 000756 000757 Metroid Fusion
000758 000759 00075a WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgame
00075b 00075c 00075d Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
000766 000767 000768 Mario vs Donkey Kong
000769 00076a 00076b Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
00076c 00076d 00076e The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Unsorted

UniqueID Title Name
000395 ?
000496 ?
000528 ?
00055e ?
0005dc ?
0006a2 ?
00072a ?
000732 ?
000775 ?
0007fc ?
000863 ?
0008c3 ?
0008c4 ?
0008c5 ?
0008c8 ?
0008e3 ?
0008fa ?
000913 ?
0009aa ?
0009d6 ?
0009fa ?
000a27 ?
000b4a ?
000bae ?
000c34 ?
000c6f ?
000c71 ?
000c72 ?
000c9e ?
000cc5 ?
000cc6 ?
000cfd ?
000d10 ?
000d2e ?
000d4a ?
000e68 ?
000edc ?