SD Card Setup

Join the DS⁽ⁱ⁾ Mode Hacking! Discord server for guide development and help.

This page is for preparing your SD card for your device. In the process, we'll format the SD card and check the card for errors.

DANGER

Make sure to backup your SD card contents BEFORE following this. Your SD card will be WIPED in the process.

Windows

Section I - Formatting your SD card with SD Formatter

TIP

This section formats the SD card to the specifications by the SD Card Association. This can fix many issues that may occur with running homebrew applications.

DANGER

Any 64GB or larger SD cards will be formatted to exFAT in this process. You must follow Section II to re-format to FAT32.

Download the latest version of SD Formatteropen in new window
- If the above link doesn't work for you, download from archive.orgopen in new window
- Accept the End User License Agreement to start the download
Run SD Card Formatter Setup (the .exe file) in the downloaded .zip file with Adminstrator privileges, then install the program
Run SD Card Formatter from the Start Menu with Adminstrator privileges
Select your SD card
Make sure the Quick Format check box is checked
Press Format to start the format process

Section II - Formatting your SD card with GUIFormat

This section formats SD cards larger than 32GB to FAT32.

TIP

If your SD card is 32GB or less in capacity, skip to Section III.

Download the latest version of GUIFormatopen in new window
- Click on the picture on the website to download the app
Run GUIFormat with Administrator permissions
Select your drive letter
Set the Allocation size unit to 32768
- If this is too large for your SD, set it to the highest one that works
Make sure the Quick Format check box is checked
Start the format process

Section III - Checking for errors

Go to the properties window of your SD card
- Windows Explorer -> This PC -> Right click your SD card -> Properties
In the tools tab, Select Check Now
Check both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors
Start the checking process

This will scan the SD card and correct any errors it finds.

Section IV - Checking SD card read/write

Download and extract the h2testw archiveopen in new window anywhere on your computer
- If the above link doesn't work for you, download from archive.orgopen in new window
- It can also be extracted on an external device as long as that external device isn't your SD card
With your SD card inserted into your computer, run h2testw.exe
Select which language you'd like to see h2testw in
Set your SD card's drive letter as your target
Ensure all available space is selected
Click Write + Verify

Wait until the process is completed

TIP

If the test shows the result Test finished without errors, your SD card is healthy and you can delete all .h2w files on your SD card.

DANGER

If the test shows any other results, your SD card may be corrupted or damaged and you may have to replace it!

Linux

TIP

If TWiLight Menu++ fails to start after following this method, please follow the Windows method instead, by either rebooting to Windows or running a Windows Virtual Machine

Section I - Formatting your SD card

Make sure your SD card is not inserted into your Linux machine
Launch the Linux Terminal
Type watch "lsblk"
Insert your SD card into your Linux machine
Observe the output. It should match something like this:

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
mmcblk0     179:0    0   3,8G  0 disk
└─mmcblk0p1 179:1    0   3,7G  0 part /run/media/user/FFFF-FFFF

Take note of the device name. In our example above, it was mmcblk0p1
- If RO is set to 1, make sure the lock switch is not slid down
- Make sure you're targetting the partition, mmcblk0p1 not mmcblk0
Hit CTRL + C to exit the menu
Follow the instructions relevant to your SD card's capacity:
- 2GB or lower: sudo mkdosfs /dev/(device name from above) -s 64 -F 16
  - This creates a single FAT16 partition with 32 KB cluster size on the SD card
- 4GB or higher: sudo mkdosfs /dev/(device name from above) -s 64 -F 32
  - This creates a single FAT32 partition with 32 KB cluster size on the SD card

Section II - Using F3

Download and extract the F3 archiveopen in new window anywhere on your computer.
Launch the terminal in the F3 directory
Run make to compile F3

With your SD card inserted and mounted, run ./f3write <your sd card mount point>

Wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output:

$ ./f3write /media/michel/6135-3363/
Free space: 29.71 GB
Creating file 1.h2w ... OK!
...
Creating file 30.h2w ... OK!
Free space: 0.00 Byte
Average Writing speed: 4.90 MB/s

Run ./f3read <your sd card mount point>

Wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output:

$ ./f3read /media/michel/6135-3363/
                  SECTORS      ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
...
Validating file 30.h2w ... 1491904/        0/      0/      0

   Data OK: 29.71 GB (62309312 sectors)
Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
            Corrupted: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
   Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
         Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
Average Reading speed: 9.42 MB/s

TIP

If the test shows the result Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors) your SD card is healthy and you can delete all .h2w files on your SD card.

DANGER

If the test shows any other results, your SD card may be corrupted or damaged and you may have to replace it!

macOS

Section I - Formatting your SD card with SD Formatter

TIP

This section formats the SD card to the specifications by the SD Card Association. This can fix many issues that may occur with running homebrew applications.

DANGER

Any 64GB or larger SD cards will be formatted to exFAT in this process. You must follow Section II to re-format to FAT32.

Download the latest version of SD Formatteropen in new window
- Accept the End User License Agreement to start the download
Run Install SD Card Formatter (the .mpkg file) in the downloaded .zip file
Run SD Card Formatter
Select your SD card
Make sure the Quick Format check box is checked
Start the format process

Section II - Formatting your SD card with Disk Utility

This section formats SD cards larger than 32GB to FAT32.

TIP

If your SD card is 32GB or less in capacity, skip to Section III.

OS X El Capitan (10.11) and later

Launch the Disk Utility application
Select Show All Devices in the top-left View panel
Select your SD card from the sidebar
- Make sure you choose the correct device, otherwise you might accidentally erase the wrong drive!
Click Erase at the top
Ensure that Format is set to MS-DOS (FAT32)
- On El Capitan (10.11) through Catalina (10.15) choose MS-DOS (FAT)
Ensure that Scheme is set to Master Boot Record
- If Scheme does not appear, click Cancel and make sure to choose the device instead of a volume
Click Erase, then click Close

OS X Yosemite (10.10) and earlier

Launch the Disk Utility application
Select your SD card from the sidebar
- Make sure you choose the correct device, otherwise you might accidentally erase the wrong drive!
Click Partition at the top
- If Partition does not appear, make sure to choose the device instead of a volume
Ensure that Partition Layout is set to 1 Partition
Ensure that Format is set to MS-DOS (FAT)
From the Options button (below the partition table), select Master Boot Record.
Click OK -> Apply -> Partition

Section III - Using F3

Open Terminal
Install F3 from brew by running brew install f3
- If you don't have brew, install it with the instructions on brew.shopen in new window

With your SD card inserted and mounted, run f3write <your sd card mount point>

Wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output:

$ f3write /Volumes/SD\ CARD
Free space: 29.71 GB
Creating file 1.h2w ... OK!
...
Creating file 30.h2w ... OK!
Free space: 0.00 Byte
Average Writing speed: 4.90 MB/s

Run f3read <your sd card mount point>

Wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output:

$ f3read /Volumes/SD\ CARD
                  SECTORS      ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
...
Validating file 30.h2w ... 1491904/        0/      0/      0

   Data OK: 29.71 GB (62309312 sectors)
Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
            Corrupted: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
   Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
         Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
Average Reading speed: 9.42 MB/s

TIP

If the test shows the result Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors) your SD card is healthy and you can delete all .h2w files on your SD card.

DANGER

If the test shows any other results, your SD card may be corrupted or damaged and you may have to replace it!

TIP

You can now restore the contents of your SD card and continue.

SD Card Setup

# Section I - Formatting your SD card with SD Formatter

# Section II - Formatting your SD card with GUIFormat

# Section III - Checking for errors

# Section IV - Checking SD card read/write

# Section I - Formatting your SD card

# Section II - Using F3

# Section I - Formatting your SD card with SD Formatter

# Section II - Formatting your SD card with Disk Utility

# OS X El Capitan (10.11) and later

# OS X Yosemite (10.10) and earlier

# Section III - Using F3

Section I - Formatting your SD card with SD Formatter

Section II - Formatting your SD card with GUIFormat

Section III - Checking for errors

Section IV - Checking SD card read/write

Section I - Formatting your SD card

Section II - Using F3

Section I - Formatting your SD card with SD Formatter

Section II - Formatting your SD card with Disk Utility

OS X El Capitan (10.11) and later

OS X Yosemite (10.10) and earlier

Section III - Using F3