Getting a new 3DS and transferring data between SD cards: Is it even possible?

[cheezu]

My friend is thinking of purchasing a new 3DS along with upgrading to a bigger SD card.
The only problem? Her digital copy of AC:NL.
We have both heard of too many horror stories of people's data corrupting due to transferring it onto a different card so my question is, is it even possible to do so successfuly?
Has anyone on the forum actually managed to do it without getting his/her data corrupted and if so, would it be possible to write up how it's done the right way.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Stacie]

I could be wrong but for what you guys are trying to do I'm pretty sure you would need to do a system transfer, not just moving data to a new SD card.

Here's a guide on system transferring
http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/227

Aaand one I've personally used on putting data onto a new SD card
http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/309

Hope this helped!

 

[cheezu]

Thanks a lot! I will share this with my friend.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I could be wrong but for what you guys are trying to do I'm pretty sure you would need to do a system transfer, not just moving data to a new SD card.

Here's a guide on system transferring
http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/227


Aaand one I've personally used on putting data onto a new SD card
http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/309

Hope this helped!

Just a small question. Has this worked for you with Animal Crossing, too?
I have read that people managed to successfully transfer other games BUT AC.

 

[Punchyleaf]

I've transferred my animal crossing to a bigger sd card. I didn't had an issue with it at all.

 

[Lauren]

For me the SD card did nothing, the games I lost on my other 3ds were gone, if day system transfer is the only way!

 

[cheezu]

I've transferred my animal crossing to a bigger sd card. I didn't had an issue with it at all.

Do you think you could outline the steps on how it's done properly?
We're worried as many people seem to have problems with it and have lost their data that way. Thanks!

 

[Ras]

I have done the system transfer a couple of times with my digital town without incident. I can't say I sent it to an upgraded SD card, however (though I think it can be done without a problem). I started with a cartridge and when it was time to transfer to my new 3DS, I first used Nintendo's utility to move my town from the cartridge to the digital version and then I did the system transfer. So, my town was already on the SD card and just got moved over.

I do now realize I made a potentially dangerous mistake. I followed Nintendo's instructions and left the SD card in my old 3DS until the new 3DS's process asked me to put the old SD card in. Meanwhile, the original 3DS was going through the setup (set the time, date, etc), but I removed the SD card anyway. You should not remove the SD card while the system is running, I understand, and I'm lucky nothing went wrong.

 

[Punchyleaf]

There's not really much to it lol
After the system transfers (or before, whichever you prefer) back everything up to the computer, which means take the files on the sd card and literally copy them to the desktop or so. Take out the old sd card, put in the new one, then copy the files from the desktop into the new card. Take it out and pop it into the sd card slot in the system. It's the same wether you did a system transfer first or not. There's really no way to mess it up unless you sit there and consciously hit delete instead of copy or if you just pop in the new sd card in the system thinking everything will be there without having transferred the files lol

 

[cheezu]

Thanks for the responses.
We're just slightly worried about the large percentage of people getting their data corrupted with doing any transfers but hopefully, it'll work out.