FAT Cache causes corruption on some 64+ GB (micro)SD cards

[Kalanyr]

Your console: N3DSXL Australian / N3DSXL US
Launch Method: SaltMode9 -> Luma 10.1 -> Twilight Menu 12.2.0 / Luma 10.1 -> Twilight Menu 12.2.0
Version used: Release
Game tested/used/applicable:
128GB Samsung Pro+ MicroSD U3 XC1, Formatted as FAT32 with a 32 KB Cluster Size
4 Heroes of Light
7th Dragon (English Patched)
A Witch's Tale
Atelier Annie
Avalon Code
Avatar - Into the Inferno
Avatar - The Burning Earth
Avatar - The Last Airbender
Black Sigil - Blade of the Exiled
Bleach - Blade of Fate

128GB Sandisk Extreme Pro U3 A1 V30 XC1, Formatted as FAT32 with a 64KB Cluster Size
Pokemon Diamond
Pokemon Pearl
Pokemon Platinum
Pokemon Black
Pokemon Black 2
Pokemon Conquest
Pokemon White
Pokemon White 2
Pokemon Heart Gold
Pokemon Soul Silver

Expected Behavior:
Should run with FAT Cache turned on without corrupting the SD Card

Actual Behavior:
Do run with FAT Cache turned on without corrupting the SD Card (this is an attempt to gather info on this problem, not an issue effecting me)

Steps to reproduce

1 Delete _nds\nds-bootstrap\fatTable
2 Start Twilight Menu
3 Enable FAT Cache in Twilight Menu
4 Run a Games to create the cached FAT file
5 Exit the Game
6 Run the game again to access the cached FAT Table
7 Repeat 4-6 with 9 other games
8 Scan the card using a PC Tool (eg Properties -> Tools -> Error Check on Windows) to check if it's become corrupt

Please report the Console (DS/DSi/3DS/N3DS) , SD Card type (microSD/SD), SD Card brand, SD Card Model, SD Card Size and Cluster Size the card is formatted as (from a command line
type
wmic volume get driveletter,blocksize on Windows, the cluster size will be given in Bytes)
And whether or not corruption occurred

Other notes

This is an attempt to
a) Identify what exactly is causing the corruption with some games when FAT Cache is enabled and
b) identify SD Cards that do not have this issue, that can safely have FAT Cache enabled.

[RocketRobz]

Can some of you update the nightly nds-bootstrap, then switch to that in TWLMenu++ Settings?

[Kalanyr]

Yes, certainly, will retest with the latest nightly over the next couple of days.

…

On Sat, 7 Mar 2020, 3:29 pm RocketRobz, ***@***.***> wrote: Can you update the nightly nds-bootstrap, then switch to that in TWLMenu++ Settings? — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#882>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABKZ336MQ4FDI4XZKLFEFDDRGHLUNANCNFSM4LDMNZGQ> .

[Kalanyr]

Tested with Nightly 045f092

128GB Samsung Pro+ MicroSD U3 XC1, Formatted as FAT32 with a 32 KB Cluster Size
4 Heroes of Light
7th Dragon (English Patched)
A Witch's Tale
Atelier Annie
Avalon Code
Avatar - Into the Inferno
Avatar - The Burning Earth
Avatar - The Last Airbender
Black Sigil - Blade of the Exiled
Bleach - Blade of Fate

No corruption.

Tested with nightly e2ffcad
128GB Sandisk Extreme Pro U3 A1 V30 XC1, Formatted as FAT32 with a 64KB Cluster Size
Pokemon Diamond
Pokemon Pearl
Pokemon Platinum
Pokemon Black
Pokemon Black 2
Pokemon Conquest
Pokemon White
Pokemon White 2
Pokemon Heart Gold
Pokemon Soul Silver

No corruption

[Kaisaan]

Does this issue still happen? I don't have any extra SD cards to test this.

[Epicpkmn11]

I haven't heard of it happening since the initial 1 or 2 people, however it has been disabled by default since then so hard to tell.

Personally I've been using a 128 GB card on DSi and 64 GB card on 3DS (though I very rarely use TWiLight on 3DS) and had it on this whole time with no issues, but that's not a large sample size...

[RocketRobz]

FAT table cache is no longer written to the SD card since some versions ago, so there should be no corruption issues at this point.