How to Restore an SD Card Backup with SCCM Switch Toolbox

SCCM Switch Toolbox takes a .sccmbak file you made earlier and writes it back to your Switch SD card. The workflow runs in three stages: pick the target drive, point it at the backup file, and choose which partitions inside the backup you want to restore.

This guide walks through the full restore process from start to finish.

Tip: Don’t have a backup of your own yet? Check out the Preconfigured SCCM Backups page for ready-to-restore .sccmbak files (Android emulation build, more coming) that drop straight onto a formatted card.

Important: Restoring overwrites data on the target SD card. The card must already be formatted with a layout that fits the partitions in your backup. If it isn’t, use the Format tab in SCCM Switch Toolbox first to set up the correct layout.

What You’ll Need

The SD card you want to restore to
A Windows computer with SCCM Switch Toolbox
An SD card reader (built-in or USB)
The .sccmbak file you want to restore
A target SD card formatted with a layout that fits the partitions in the backup

How Restore Decides What Fits

The restore step compares each partition in your backup against the matching partition on the target card and tells you whether it fits before you start. A couple of things to know:

HOS Data, Linux, and Android were backed up file-based, so they fit any target partition large enough to hold the actual files inside.
Partition-based EmuMMC was backed up as a raw dump, so the target EmuMMC partition has to match the source size exactly.
The Status column on the Select Partitions screen marks each partition as fitting (with free space remaining) or not.

Restoring Your SD Card

1. Insert Your SD Card

Plug the target SD card into your computer using a built-in slot or a USB SD card reader.

2. Open the Restore Tab and Select Your Drive

Launch SCCM Switch Toolbox and click Restore in the left sidebar. The first stage is Select Drive. Click Select Drive to open the picker. Only removable drives show up here, and any card already formatted for the Switch is tagged with [SWITCH]. Pick the target card.

3. Confirm the Drive and Continue

Once a drive is selected, its details show under TARGET DRIVE. A Resize Linux button appears below if the card has an existing Linux partition. You can leave that alone for a standard restore. When the right drive is selected, click Next.

Restore tab showing the selected target drive Samsung uSD Card Reader with a Resize Linux button below and Next button highlighted

4. Pick Your Backup File

On the Select Backup stage, click Browse and point the toolbox at the .sccmbak file you want to restore. Once it loads, you’ll see the source drive the backup came from, when it was created, how many partitions are inside, and any notes you added when you ran the backup. Use the notes to make sure you’ve grabbed the right file before you continue.

Select Backup File stage showing backup file source Samsung uSD Card Reader created date and a partitions list with notes about the backup contents

Click Next to move on.

5. Choose Which Partitions to Restore

The Restore stage shows every partition in the backup alongside the matching partition on the target card. Each row lists:

Backup Size – how much data is inside that partition in the backup file.
Card Size – the size of the matching partition on the target card.
Status – whether the backup fits the target, with the remaining free space shown.

Check the partitions you want to restore. Anything you don’t check is left alone on the target card.

Select Partitions to Restore stage with hos_data and Android partition checkboxes showing backup size card size and fit status with a warning that restoring will overwrite data on the target drive

Warning: Restoring overwrites whatever is currently in the checked partitions on the target card. Make sure you have a backup of anything on that card that you don’t want to lose before you continue.

6. Start the Restore

Click Start Restore. A progress window opens showing the file or sector currently being written, an overall percentage, and a running log.

7. Wait for It to Finish

How long the restore takes depends on how much data is being written and how fast your SD card and reader are. Raw partition restores (like a partition-based EmuMMC) take longer because the full partition size has to be written, even if a lot of it is empty space. Leave it alone and let it finish.

When the progress bar hits 100% and you see Complete! at the top of the window, the restore is done. Click Close to dismiss the dialog.

Restore Complete dialog showing 100 percent progress with logs about post-restore fixup script placement and instructions to run sccm_fixup.sh after first Linux boot

Tips

Format the target first. The restore tool writes into existing partitions, it doesn’t carve them out for you. If the target layout doesn’t match what’s in the backup, run the Format tab first.
Read the Status column. A partition that doesn’t fit can’t be restored. If something is flagged red on the partition picker, go back and reformat the target with more room.
You don’t have to restore everything. Only the partitions you check get touched. Restoring just HOS while leaving an existing EmuMMC alone is a valid move.
SD card and reader speed matter. A fast UHS-I card paired with a quality USB 3.0 reader makes a big difference, especially for large EmuMMC restores.
Eject cleanly when done. A safe eject before pulling the card out avoids any half-written files on the new layout.

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