How to Format 3Ds SD Card

Part 1: Which File Systems can be Applied to 3DS SD Card?

NINTENDO 3DS, hereinafter referred to as 3DS, is the fourth-generation handheld game console released by Nintendo in 2011. At present, the 3DS family includes 4 members, namely 3DS LL (2012), NEW 3DS, NEW 3DS LL/XL (Oct. 2014). So far, 74.84 million units and 375.97 million games have been sold.

However, the console is merely provided with 2GB, which is not enough for such a hot game console, especially when the current video games can reach to hundreds of MB and several GB. Hence, the 3DS system memory is allowed to expand via an SD card slot. Users can install the SD cards for the convenience. Do you know which file systems can be used in 3DS?

FAT32

FAT32 is a file system. With strong control in disk management, it allows each volume to be more than 2GB, breaking the limit of FAT16. Hence, we can set a SD card to be only one volume.

For example, there are two 2GB SD cards, one in FAT16 and another in FAT32. The cluster size of the former volume is 32KB while that of the latter one is only 4KB. That is to say, the latter SD card can be greatly used. However, FAT32 is not perfect. On the volume where files are created and deleted frequently, the SD card will become fragmented. In the long run, the SD card will read and write more and more slowly.

NTFS

NTFS is an advanced file system that not only protects files and index but also saves storage space. Compared with FAT, NTFS performs more safely, compresses data well and runs more quickly. Besides, it possesses many merits, such as supporting sparse files and disk allocation, copying a file over 4GB and producing seldom segments. Yet, since NTFS cannot be recognized beyond computers and it shortens the lifespan of flash drives, FAT32 is better than that.

Part 2: How to Format 3DS SD Card?

1. Use a card reader to connect the 3DS SD card to the computer. Then, press the keys [Win + X] and select [Computer Management]. As you enter the new operation interface, click [Disk Management] at the left side.

2. Right-click at the letter of the target SD card and select [Format].

3. Select an option in [File System] and click [OK] to format the 3DS SD card.

Part 3: How to Recover Formatted SD Card?

Renee Undeleter is powerful software for SD card recovery. It supports to recover many file types, especially the formatted SD card. What’s more, Renee Undeleter is designed with three scan modes, namely fast partition scan, whole partition scan and whole disk scan, satisfying most of users. Meanwhile, the clear interface is also friendly for newbies.

1. Use a card reader to connect the SD card to the computer. Then, open Renee Undeleter and select [Whole Partition Scan].

2. Select the target SD card and click [Next] to go on.

3. The scan time depends on the capacity of the SD card. The larger SD card will be more time-consuming. As the scan is finished, select the files you want to recover, and then click [Recover] to save them.

Part 4: How If 3DS cannot Recognize SD Card?

Now, most of the high-capacity SD cards are set to be exFAT by default. But 3DS does not support exFAT, so the SD card should be formatted to FAT32 if it is going to be used in 3DS.