Cannot view the contents of a FAT32 64gb micro sd card in Windows 8.1

[bcorz]

Hello,

I will give the short story first

I have a 64gb micro SD card that is formatted using FAT32. Whenever I use the card on my Windows 8.1 computer, Windows wants to reformat the card. When I open disk management, the card shows as unallocated space. The card contains the information from my Nintendo 3DS and I would like to copy the information from the card to my computer. How can I do that?

Now the long story

I have a Nintendo 3DSXL that I play on train rides to work. The 3DS requires that you use FAT32 formatting in order to play the games. When I bought the machine, I knew I would want to download a lot of games (rather than carry cartridges everywhere) so I purchased a 64gb Micro SD card with a SD card adaptor.

At the time, I had a Windows 7 laptop. Using the laptop and some downloaded utilities, I was able to format the card into FAT32 format (as Windows 7 wouldn't let me format it FAT32 using standard windows utilities). I put it into the 3DS and everything works great.

Now, 2ish years later, I have a new Windows 8.1 computer. For a couple of reasons (backing up my games so I don't have to redownload and to upgrade to the New Nintendo 3DSXL) I want to be able to view the card on my new computer. Whenever I use my card reader, Windows asks me to format the card. When I open disk management, the card shows as unallocated space.

To test everything, I (literally) dusted off my old laptop (that I used to format the card in the first place) and I viewed the card. I could view all of the files on the card. In disk management, the card was listed as formatted FAT32.

So, is there a way to view the FAT32 formatted 64gb micro SD card on my Windows 8.1 computer?

I would like the be able to do this quickly and easily in the future, as a way to backup my 3DS's data.

Thank you for your help.

 

[MetalSparks]

What you should do is:
1. transfer all the data from the SD card to your Windows 7 OS laptop
2. put the SD card on your Windows 8.1 OS computer
3. format the SD card
4. put the files now saved on your Windows 7 OS laptop on a flash drive
5. connect that flash drive to your Windows 8.1 OS computer
6. transfer the files from your flash drive to your SD card.

 

[bcorz]

What you should do is:
1. transfer all the data from the SD card to your Windows 7 OS laptop
2. put the SD card on your Windows 8.1 OS computer
3. format the SD card
4. put the files now saved on your Windows 7 OS laptop on a flash drive
5. connect that flash drive to your Windows 8.1 OS computer
6. transfer the files from your flash drive to your SD card.

I agree that would be a good short term solution. However, I am looking for a long term solution that allows me to use the Windows 8 machine to backup the files in the future. I don't want to use the laptop anymore.

 

[MetalSparks]

...using my solution WILL allow you to use the Windows 8 machine to backup the files in the future.
What it WON'T do is allow you to backup the files from your Windows 7 machine.

 

[bcorz]

I'm sorry, I misread your solution. However, it doesn't work in my case because the card has to be formatted FAT32 to work in the 3ds

 

[MetalSparks]

...your SD card is currently formatted to FAT32, right?
After transferring the files to your laptop and connecting the SD card to your Windows 8 machine you can still format the SD card to FAT32 - you'd just be performing a formatting that your Windows 8 machine can read. ...which would be FAT32. If this FAT32 formatting works the same as its previous FAT32 format it should still work in your 3DS.

 

[twburger]

Similar problem with Win10. Win10 will not read the drive or even recognize the volume for formatting. It sees a USB drive has been added but asks for a disk to be inserted as if it's a DVD. Best guess is the older USB drive drivers (contained on the drive's firmware) are not compatible. Aside from copying the contents to an older Windows or Linux PC there does not seem to be a solution.

Hello,

I will give the short story first

I have a 64gb micro SD card that is formatted using FAT32. Whenever I use the card on my Windows 8.1 computer, Windows wants to reformat the card. When I open disk management, the card shows as unallocated space. The card contains the information from my Nintendo 3DS and I would like to copy the information from the card to my computer. How can I do that?

Now the long story

I have a Nintendo 3DSXL that I play on train rides to work. The 3DS requires that you use FAT32 formatting in order to play the games. When I bought the machine, I knew I would want to download a lot of games (rather than carry cartridges everywhere) so I purchased a 64gb Micro SD card with a SD card adaptor.

At the time, I had a Windows 7 laptop. Using the laptop and some downloaded utilities, I was able to format the card into FAT32 format (as Windows 7 wouldn't let me format it FAT32 using standard windows utilities). I put it into the 3DS and everything works great.

Now, 2ish years later, I have a new Windows 8.1 computer. For a couple of reasons (backing up my games so I don't have to redownload and to upgrade to the New Nintendo 3DSXL) I want to be able to view the card on my new computer. Whenever I use my card reader, Windows asks me to format the card. When I open disk management, the card shows as unallocated space.

To test everything, I (literally) dusted off my old laptop (that I used to format the card in the first place) and I viewed the card. I could view all of the files on the card. In disk management, the card was listed as formatted FAT32.

So, is there a way to view the FAT32 formatted 64gb micro SD card on my Windows 8.1 computer?

I would like the be able to do this quickly and easily in the future, as a way to backup my 3DS's data.

Thank you for your help.