Nintendo Switch Update Adds Ability to Transfer Data to SD Card

Nintendo is rolling out a major update to the Switch system this week. The company is releasing version 10.0.0 of the Switch software, and it adds a much-awaited option for users.

Those with lots of games and content on their Switch will now be happy to know that the Switch lets user transfer data between the internal storage and an SD card with this latest update. “Users can now transfer downloadable software, update data, and DLC from the system memory to an SD card (and vice versa),” said Nintendo.

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The new capability still won’t allow gamers to transfer their save data and “some” update data to their SD card.

Apart from the new transferring capabilities, the new update also adds the ability to remap controller buttons. Nintendo Switch now lets you configure the analog stick and buttons for each paired controller, and you can also save up to 5 custom configurations. Users can only customize the configurations for the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers and Nintendo’s Switch Pro controller, however.

There are some other minor updates, including 6 new icons from Animal Crossing: New Horizons that you can use for your user profile icon. The update also lets users bookmark up to 300 news items from the news app.

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Conversation 4 comments

  • remc86007

    14 April, 2020 - 12:02 pm

    <p>Better late than never I guess? I know Nintendo has wasted a lot of money on bandwidth from people like me having to delete games and redownload them to move them. </p><p><br></p><p>The whole system is a mess in my opinion which is only held up by a couple really good exclusive games. The online service has been a joke (I still can't get through two online Mario Kart races without a disconnection), the thing only has 32GB of internal storage which holds about two games and two of the name brand SD cards I have purchased have corrupted. Redownloading games once I got a new SD card takes forever because the system's IO subsystem is old phone tech and the wifi chip is hot garbage. My Xbox One X can download 100GB to spinning rust in the same time it takes the Switch to download 6GB to flash memory. </p><p><br></p><p>I know they were trying to target as low of a price as possible, but choosing a garbage chip from Nvidia that was uncompetitive and inefficient when it came out in January of 2015 for a 2017 device which they intend to ride through 2021 at least was dumb. Had they launched with a mobile chip that was competitive by 2017 standards they could have supported ports of hundreds more Xbox One and PS4 games. I find this personally very frustrating because Nintendo is the only company making a handheld and so far the only games they have released that have kept my attention more than a week are Mario Odyssey and Animal Crossing.</p>

    • fishnet37222

      Premium Member
      14 April, 2020 - 1:38 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#538323">In reply to remc86007:</a></em></blockquote><p>I have none of those issues with my Switch Lite.</p>

    • Lauren Glenn

      15 April, 2020 - 6:52 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#538323">In reply to remc86007:</a></em></blockquote><p>Then don't download them again. But yes, the downloading does take a while. I have gigabit and it takes a while.</p><p><br></p><p>Here's a tip:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>When you get a new micro SD card, turn off the switch and put the new card in.</li><li>Turn it back on</li><li>Format the blank card just to make sure the format is OK</li><li>System will reboot</li><li>Confirm you can see the new size in the new card</li><li>Turn off the Switch</li><li>Using a Micro SD reader on your PC, copy the contents from the old card and overwrite any files that show up saying that the files already exist (but do not reformat) </li><li>When done, put the card in your Switch again and turn it back on. </li></ul><p><br></p><p>All your games are on the new card and your video/picture album will also come over. </p><p><br></p><p>Done it many times. Haven't had to redownload any games when doing this. Save data is on the Switch so that doesn't go anywhere. You can go through the Album folder on the micro SD card and copy all your videos and pictures off it too… I do this to keep a library on my PC and OneDrive.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    15 April, 2020 - 2:31 am

    <p>Surely save data would be the most important data to want to be able to backup?</p><p>(I don't use a Nintendo, but it is the most obvious use for external storage, in case the device gets stolen or damaged…)</p>

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