ignasurba / mmcblknx

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

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.

mmcblknx's Issues

is it possible to dump prodinfo only?

if yes, could you please to me the command promt?

thx

Suggestion if possible

Hello, is it possible to connect it to the lite nand with wires? if so, can you show the pinout?

thanks

failed to open `dev/mmcblc0/´: no such file or directory - ubuntu via virtualbox

im getting the error in the titel when entering "sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 of=rawnand.bin" in terminal.

im running ubuntu via virtualbox. the mmcblknx is added to usb filters in virtualbox. what im i doing wrong? is it a problem with the virtualization? or a problem with ubuntu 22.04.3? other usb devices seem to work properly with the virtual machine.

i appriciate any help. thx!

Error while compiling module driver for rpi4

# make -C . KBUILD_EXTRA_SYMBOLS=drivers/misc/cardreader/Module.symvers M=drivers/mmc/host
make: Entering directory '/root/linux-6f921e98008589258f97243fb6658d09750f0a2f'
  CC [M]  drivers/mmc/host/mmc_spi.o
  CC [M]  drivers/mmc/host/of_mmc_spi.o
  CC [M]  drivers/mmc/host/rtsx_usb_sdmmc.o
  MODPOST drivers/mmc/host/Module.symvers
ERROR: modpost: "cpu_hwcap_keys" [drivers/mmc/host/rtsx_usb_sdmmc.ko] undefined!
ERROR: modpost: "arm64_const_caps_ready" [drivers/mmc/host/rtsx_usb_sdmmc.ko] undefined!
ERROR: modpost: "__const_udelay" [drivers/mmc/host/rtsx_usb_sdmmc.ko] undefined!
ERROR: modpost: "__warn_printk" [drivers/mmc/host/mmc_spi.ko] undefined!
make[1]: *** [scripts/Makefile.modpost:134: drivers/mmc/host/Module.symvers] Error 1
make[1]: *** Deleting file 'drivers/mmc/host/Module.symvers'
make: *** [Makefile:1783: modules] Error 2
make: Leaving directory '/root/linux-6f921e98008589258f97243fb6658d09750f0a2f'

1.8v version?

Are you ever going to release a version which can operate at both 1.8v and 3.3v? (Either through a hardware switch or automagically?)

MmcblkNX v5.0?

Hello,
Thanks for your effort. I found a third party that sells this version of your work, wondering why I could not find it on Tinde.

one thing I noticed about it is how slow it is (700kb/s) I’m doing dd from my harddrive to the chip. Would that explain why it’s copying so slow?

thanks

A small tuto for newbie like me

Hi I ordered one of your product (im the French guy you send it like two weeks ago) but I didn't receive At time but no probs.
I want to know if it's possible for you to do a quick and easy step by step tuto because I'm absolutely a noob with Linux/unbutu.
Thank you so much in advance