"could not detect an SD card. the software on the SD card could not be displayed."

[aleksandras]

"could not detect an SD card. the software on the SD card could not be displayed."

unfortunately when i started up my 3DS XL today, a message came up saying that an SD card could not be detected and i'm not sure what's wrong. i took my SD card out, put it back in, and the same message appeared. i tried cleaning the contacts on the SD card with some rubbing alcohol but that didn't work either. i have a 4GB SDHC card that i ordered online. is there anything i can do about this? can my progress on ACNL be deleted because of this?

i'm really freaked out. i don't need my SD card, i just don't want the progress on ACNL to be deleted. plus i have an animal crossing tumblr where i upload photos, so an SD card is important. any advice?

 

[Reese]

Since you say you don't need your SD card, I'm assuming you have a physical copy of the game? If so, don't worry - your data's safe, as it all saves to the cartridge. Did you try cleaning inside the slot on your 3DS too? What happens when you plug the SD card into your computer?

 

[aleksandras]

Since you say you don't need your SD card, I'm assuming you have a physical copy of the game? If so, don't worry - your data's safe, as it all saves to the cartridge. Did you try cleaning inside the slot on your 3DS too? What happens when you plug the SD card into your computer?

yeah, i have a physical copy of the game. i plugged the sd card into my computer and it says, "you need to format the disk in drive F: before you can use it. should i format it? i don't know what it does.

*edit, i tried to format it but it said "windows could not format blahblahblah" what do i do now?

 

[aleksandras]

guess my tumblr account's screwed, then. it was fun while it lasted.

 

[Reese]

I'm not an expert, but from what I understand (and backed up by some googling) your SD card is corrupted somehow, and formatting it will make it usable again while wiping everything off of it. So that wouldn't be the first thing I'd try if you don't want to lose all your pictures and whatnot. You could try the steps described in this video (you can skip to 2:00 or so) to fix it without formatting, and maybe google around a bit more if that doesn't work? Sorry I can't give more specific help!

(And in the meantime, if you didn't already know, you can always use Miiverse to take pictures! Press home when you want to take a picture, tap the Miiverse tab up top, click "save to screenshot album")