mattyams / mmcblkNX-C

Hardware eMMC reader capable of reading Nintendo Switch boot0, boot1 and rawnand

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mmcblkNX This is just a fork of the original by ignasurba to add USB-C 2.0 support to the board and update to KiCad6...because someone is bound to ask at some point.

mmcblkNX

Hardware eMMC reader capable of reading Nintendo Switch raw partitions including boot0, boot1 with rtsx Linux driver.

About

eMMC chips wear out, and recovery can be tricky.
Luckily, the Nintendo Switch (except Lite) has a removable eMMC board.
It is encrypted, but still readable and writable as raw partitions.

When the eMMC fails it often becomes read-only or worse - corrupt.
I have recovered a couple broken Nintendo this way, it might help you too!

How it works

Almost any SD card reader can read eMMC chips. However they only access the main partitions.
After discovering a Realtek card reader with rtsx Linux driver in an old laptop,
I could read the boot0 and boot1 partitions too.

Hardware

It is fully open-source reader based on Realtek RTS5170 card reader and designed in KiCad.
Uses the same Molex 500913-0302 connector.

Software

Requires Linux and rtsx drivers to be installed.
Works out of the box with Ubuntu 20.04.1
How to build the required drivers for Raspberry Pi 4 is here.

Read and write speed is about 20MB/s. (USB 2.0)

Usage

sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0boot0 of=boot0.bin
sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0boot1 of=boot1.bin
sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 of=rawnand.bin

Disable read-only mode

sudo su
echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblk0/force_ro
echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblk0boot0/force_ro
echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblk0boot1/force_ro
exit

Where can I get one

I made a small batch and they are available on Tindie.
https://www.tindie.com/products/22851/
Or feel free to assemble one yourself.

Disclaimer

It does not decrypt your files or enable piracy of any kind.
It is created to make recovery possible.
In full support of the right to repair movement.

About

Hardware eMMC reader capable of reading Nintendo Switch boot0, boot1 and rawnand

License:MIT License


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