Switch Guide #1 NAND Backup (5.1.0)

Gunz4Hire

Gunz4Hire

Exotic XeX Hunter
Joined
Jan 25, 2018
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I am writing this on Firmware 5.1.0 Any Firmware below can be backed up, I will update this as System Updates come
DO NOT BOOT CFW OR AUTO RCM UNTIL YOU HAVE A CLEAN NAND BACKUP!​
Tools Required
  1. Nintendo Switch
  2. USB 3.0 to USB A-Male Cable
  3. SD card formatted to exFAT (64GB is the Best option for NAND Dumping but I had to use a 8GB for this tutorial)
  4. Jig( A device to short pin 9 and 10 on the RIGHT Joy-con Controller)
  5. TegraRCM Loader(PC), Hekate 3.2 payloader, File Joiner

To start off with into the World of a unlocked Nintendo Switch it is very important to get a NAND backup in case you were to accidentally brick your Device. The chances of a Brick are Low but the you Need this if you want to keep your Switch a little bit safer when diving into unlocking a Device!

​
Hold Down the Power button on the Switch till you get the Power Menu screen and select power options then TURN OFF DEVICE. We must make sure during this entire process our device is turned off as even turning on the Switch during a partial NAND dump can make it corrupt.

Insert your Jig into the Switch, It can touch pins 1 +10, 9+10, do not short out pin 7, it can render your device useless! Optionally you can go to Ebay or search on google for a Nintendo Switch Jig.
WP_20180627_17_33_34_Pro.jpg


Insert your SD CARD that has been formatted already. After that Plug in your USB C cable to the bottom of your Switch.

Press and Hold Volume UP+ then at the same time hold the power button for 2 seconds then release both buttons. If done correctly your Switch should be on a black screen. If you see the Nintendo Logo try again or make sure your jig is shorting the proper pins.

Plug the USB C cable into your PC, it should show up as APX and install, however it is not installed properly.

Open the .rar file Proved in this thread and extract the folder to your desktop.
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Inside the folder is a application titled,"TegraRcmGUI_version2.0_Installer.msi" run this application and install.

Once installed run the application and it will detect your Switch but say the driver are missing. select yes and follow the process to install the drivers. Once installed inside the TegraRcm Program the Red box on the bottom will turn Green, Indicating your Switch is properly in RCM Mode.

It will ask to install Drivers for the Switch, select yes!

Select the folder icon and go to the folder you extracted to your desktop and select the,"hekate_ctcaer2.3.bin" then select the Inject Payload Option.
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You Will now notice on your Switch the Hekate Menu :D Congrats!! But we are just getting started!
WP_20180627_16_20_24_Pro.jpg

To use this menu
  • Volume up = UP
  • Volume down = DOWN
  • Power Button = SELECT
Go down to "Tools" and press the power button.
You will see a few different options. The option you want to choose is under the full section, choose "Dump RAW eMMC".
**IF YOU ARE USING A SD CARD WITH UNDER 32GB OF FREE SPACE IT WILL DO A PARTIAL DUMP, NAND DUMPING CAN TAKE A FEW HOURS, BE PATIENT**

If you have more then 32GB of Free space it do dump all of your NAND in one go. after it is complete press the power button, then select eMMC BOOT, this is part of your NAND and is a seperate file so keep it with the other file! once it is done press the power button, from here you can choose to install install AUTO RCM(so you do not need to use the jig everytime you reboot), go back to the main menu and power off, remove the SD card from your Switch and insert into your PC, and copy over the files into a safe place. Congrats if you DID NOT use a smaller SD you can Leave a like and Exit this TUT! :)

If you are like me and used a smaller SD card it will do a partial dump, this means it will only dump enough of your data to fill the sd card and make a special file called, "partial.idx" KEEP THIS FILE ON YOUR SD CARD AT ALL TIMES!
WP_20180627_14_53_55_Pro.jpg

WP_20180627_16_55_42_Pro.jpg


Keep an eye on your device, you will get a message saying the PARTIAL NAND DUMP is complete, press back, then LEAVE YOUR SWITCH ON and take out the SD card, insert inside your PC and put all the files EXCEPT the partial.idx file into a folder on your PC. Re-insert your SD to the Switch, then go back to the main menu, select the option," REBOOT RCM" this will reset the SD card.*You will then have you replug into your PC, use TegraRcmGUI and send the Hekate Payload to the Switch again* It will take 3-5 times before you get an entire NAND Dump. Once it is done select," DUMP eMMC BOOT" it is a small file. and then you will have to plug back into your PC and use TegraRcmGUI and send the Payload back to your switch to get the Hekate menu again. AGAIN. Go to Tool and Select the Dump RAW eMMC again.

Inside the Folder you moved the files over too you should have 1 of the 2.
  • 15 part files at 2GBS
  • 30 part files at 1GBS
Open the Joiner Scripts rar file provided and select the one that is correct to your file size (1GB or 2GB) and put the .bat file inside the folder with your nand files and run it.. it can take some time to put all the files together. once that is done congrats! You have a complete NAND Dump, keep this in a very safe place!

**If your Joiner does not work , it means your nand dump FAILED! It happens some times, in this case unfortunatly you will have to delect all of your NAND backup and re-try! The file size should be 32GBS when Complete!

You should have 3 files,
BOOT0
BOOT1
rawnand.bin
 

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Last edited by a moderator:
Nice first Switch guide @Gunz4Hire, essential for anyone who wishes to start tinkering with the Switch.

Just to re enforce If you don't wish to risk getting banned from online play in the future, a clean nand backup seems essential at the moment based on this Tweet by SciresM: https://twitter.com/SciresM/status/1011321806207107072

Even if you clear your crash logs, it still seems the Switch is maintaining statistics about what logs have been uploaded to Nintendo and what have not, which might well cause a ban at some point. Nintendo are cracking down hard on people who are exploiting the Switch, then going online.

Better to be safe than sorry until we have the ability to use an Emunand with no internet access to safely tinker with.
 
Appreciate the write up! Had been looking for a detailed guide since ordering the sx pro. Is there an osx version or equivalent of Tegra RCM?
 
Post updated as requested @Gunz4Hire

Posts can only be edited for 30 days, so if you have a major update in the future, PM it me and I can happily edit the post for you.
 
Hey Guys,

Trying this on firmware 6.0, I have the latest hekate and tegra but after "Payload Injected" with green ticks nothing happens on the switch?
 
What are you using to get into RCM mode, are you using Team Xecuters dongle or are you using a home made method? make sure the correct pins are touching.
I know 6.0 and and new tegra patch is still being worked on so I am unaware if it is possible to Get a full NAND dump at this time for a "NEW" Switch
 
I wish i'd found this guide before I tried to backup my NAND the other day. I followed another tutorial that told me to backup the 2.50GB SYS, and 21.9GB rawnand.bin (option 1) and the biskeys, and then I was done if the Hak tool said it was a good backup. Now I need to restore a bricked switch and have been told it won't be possible as I didn't dump the 2 boot files. Is my switch salvageable?
 
if you are missing the PRODINFO file in your backup then using your switch as a normal switch is over :(
I have not did the research but if you read into "Lakka" it is a emulator made for the switch that replaces everything with a Retro emulator.

This is probably your only option now. but keep in mind you cannot play Switch games anymore, just retro, but i believe they have a N64 emulator, and maybe even Gamecube up and going i am not sure but I hope the best of luck to you.

https://lakka-switch.github.io/documentation/

I am curious, how did you brick your switch?
 
Gunz4Hire said:
if you are missing the PRODINFO file in your backup then using your switch as a normal switch is over :(
I have not did the research but if you read into "Lakka" it is a emulator made for the switch that replaces everything with a Retro emulator.

This is probably your only option now. but keep in mind you cannot play Switch games anymore, just retro, but i believe they have a N64 emulator, and maybe even Gamecube up and going i am not sure but I hope the best of luck to you.

https://lakka-switch.github.io/documentation/

I am curious, how did you brick your switch?
Click to expand...
All is not lost!
Blame it on being in a panic mode, being a noob, or just generally stupid, but it appears my Switch is ok. I just assumed it had bricked because I was updating via ChoiNX and my screen went black, seemingly only halfway through the operation, according to the onscreen progress bar. It wouldn't boot up normally because I was unknowingly into RCM boot only. Then when I did boot via RCM it could not load hekate any more, giving red error writing.

I installed a second CFW (Rei) and it booted ok. I have been told at a few different places that I SHOULD be ok as long as I made a backup of the missing boot files now, and this would work even if I had bricked, The rawnand is the main priority, which I had. However, this cannot be guaranteed to work, so don't test it out unless you literally have no other option.
 
Whenever I start the full backup for raw emmc , the backup stops ( failed ) and in red text shows this -- >
" SD card and emmc data <...>,
do not match!
verification failed . .
press any key and try again . ."
Tried the backup 4 or 5 times, same problem.
know the issue?

switch : v6.1
latest ( as of now ) tegraGUI and hekate.bin
 
I am trying to backup NAND with 16gb microSD card, I wanted to ask. When Partial nand dump is completed, I need to backup files from sd card and I should delete these files from sd card except partial.idx and plug in sd card to switch to resume dumping or it is not necessary to delete these files from sd card hekate will handle it ?
 
yes you have it correct. Backup the files and keep the partial.idx on the sd, but make sure you delete the other files :D
 
If I enabled AutoRCM before backing up my nand (but still didn't boot CFW) can I just uninstall/disable AutoRCM, and make a new nand backup and be good? Or did I fuck myself with AutoRCM?
 
Yes just turn off autorcm, reboot, then go back into rcm mode and make a backup :D
 
Hey, wanted to first start off saying this is a great guide, good job!

I was following a different guide before I found yours and messed up on one part after only backing up BOOT0 and BOOT1, then I accidentally booted into the Switch. I had flight mode turned on and everything. Just wanted to ask, if I now do a NAND backup, is it considered a 'dirty' backup since I booted into the Switch after using Hetake menu? I would like to restore the NAND if I ever feel like playing online sometime or if I gave the console to someone else, but now I'm worried I may get banned for accidentally booting. I only have a backup from after using Hekate. Do you know if it will be a problem? Thank you in advance :)
 
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