Latest Versions
Check MicroSD Card
Guide Information
Hekate can analyse your microSD card and give you information that could tell you instantly if it is likely to be fake or damaged or just not up to the job. Some cards can appear to be fine in normal stock use but will struggle with CFW.
- 10+ Minutes
What You Need
- Any Switch With CFW
- Hekate Bootloader Folder & Payload
- MicroSD Card (64GB+)
Check MicroSD Card Health
- Make sure you have the Hekate bootloader folder on the root of your microSD card, and the corresponding hekate_ctcaer_x.x.x.bin payload. If you don’t have them click the link below and extract the hekate_ctcaer_x.x.x_Nyx_x.x.x.zip to the root of your microSD card.
- Insert your microSD card into your Switch > put your Switch into RCM > inject the hekate_ctcaer_x.x.x.bin (Unpatched only) or power on (Modchip only) to boot into Hekate and set the Time/Date.
- On the Hekate home screen, select Console Info > microSD. Wait a few seconds for FAT volume info to display on the bottom left, this will tell you the current format. Should be FAT32 not exFAT.
- Look at the Card identification panel on the top left. Make sure your Vendor ID and OEM ID are displayed. The month/year of manufacturer should also be correct, if it displays a suspect date, especially a future year, you can presume this is likely a fake card.
- Look at the Card-specific Data on the top right panel. Make sure your capacity matches your microSD card spec (It will display in MiB, not MB so the value will be slightly lower!). Check the Current Rate is 104 mb/s. If it displays lower – at 25mb/s for example – your card is either fake or possibly damaged. Check that the Speed Class and UHS Grade matches the advertised spec of your card.
- A value showing as U0 will likely be a fake or poor quality card.
- Look at the SDMMC1 Errors on the bottom right panel. Make sure there are no Init Fails, Read/Write fails or Read Write errors.
- If everything checks out, your microSD card is fine. You can select Close > Home.
⚠️ Warning ⚠️
Modifying your Switch is dangerous. It can lead to account bans, which will prevent you from accessing Nintendo's online services and can also lead to potential console bricks. If you decide to modify your Switch in any way, we take no responsibility for any damage you cause to your switch. If you have any questions, or need help getting started, you can join our discord server by clicking the link above.
