My experience with the R4DS

[sharp]

...

I'm buying one.

[JULEZAH]

Can someone please explain to me why you need an SD card?

Sorry, i don't really fully understand how to use an R4 and i'm thinking of buying one.

[Haldrie]

Can someone please explain to me why you need an SD card?

Sorry, i don't really fully understand how to use an R4 and i'm thinking of buying one.

The microSD card is a small memory card that is commonly used on newer cell phones to store MP3s, pictures and other stuff. The R4 uses it to store roms, media and it's firmware (the files for the firmware and multimedia software are on the miniCD that comes with the R4 and can also be downloaded from R4's official web site) so instead of having to flash the card itself (which can ware it out over time) all you need to do is copy the files to the microSD either by using a SD adapter and a media card reader that can read SD cards or the USB microSD reader that comes with the R4. Most microSD cards will come with an SD adapter so you don't have to buy it seperatly. However you manage to get the files you want onto the microSD card all you need to do is insert the microSD into the R4 via the slot on the top of the R4 cartriage itself.

The best microSD brands to use that are known to work for all commercial NDS roms are Kingston and SanDisk (I have 1GB versions of each of these and I've yet to have any problems). All other brands are questionable as it has been seen that some brands will cause some games to lock up and have other problems although the source I read this from (sorry I don't remember exactly where) did not specify which brands these were. I say to use Kingston or SanDisk mostly because the online packages that I've seen of the R4 with microSD bundle usually comes with one of the above mentioned brand microSD cards.

Ok I seem to have rambled on a bit more then I intended to but if you are still confused about this please feel free to say so.

[sharp]

Kingston's the cheapest decent microSD card out there, anyway.

[JULEZAH]

yeah the package i'm looking at contains a kingston 1GB and i am familiar with the brand. I know what it is and all that, but i don't understand what you do with each part. I mean you have the R4 cartridge and you put that into the DS right? And there's the SD card and i think what you are trying to say is that you put it into the R4 cartridge. Is that it?
And the package contains a USB device that looks like a storage device but i think there's some sorta slot on the back to put the SD card in. So i think that's the MicroSD reader you are referring to.

Sorry if i sound like a complete idiot. It's just that being a teenager, i need to be sure exactly what i'm doing before buying something over the net so i can get the all-clear from my parents.

[kupo]

yeah the package i'm looking at contains a kingston 1GB and i am familiar with the brand. I know what it is and all that, but i don't understand what you do with each part. I mean you have the R4 cartridge and you put that into the DS right? And there's the SD card and i think what you are trying to say is that you put it into the R4 cartridge. Is that it?
And the package contains a USB device that looks like a storage device but i think there's some sorta slot on the back to put the SD card in. So i think that's the MicroSD reader you are referring to.

Sorry if i sound like a complete idiot. It's just that being a teenager, i need to be sure exactly what i'm doing before buying something over the net so i can get the all-clear from my parents.

The R4 itself is a DS cart that goes into your DS. On the R4 there is a small slot where you put your microSD once you have put games on it (the games are stored on the microSD and not theR4 itself). To put games on the microSD, you can use the USB adapter (which has a slot for the microSD) that comes with the package.

[JULEZAH]

well that was easy. Thanks for clearing it up.

[Zorlon]

Had no problems as such with the R4 card itself but my micro SD USB reader did not last long.

I also have a couple of friends that got R4's after seeing my R4 and have had problems with there micro SD card readers awell (actually they had problems long before I did) so it is worth buying another Micro SD card reader or an SD card reader (use the micro SD converter that comes with most micro SD's) just incase

There is the odd bit of PD software that won't work correctly on the R4 alone because most the early software was made to work from slot 2 but this is a rather small amount of software.

P.S. Make sure your Kingston Micro SD's are Made in Japan, the korean ones have slower transfur speeds and can cause problems with some games.

[Haldrie]

That's odd. I haven't had any issue with my USB reader. Although I also haven't been using it much since my laptop has an SD reader built into it so that might be why.

[Kazekage Gaara]

Had no problems as such with the R4 card itself but my micro SD USB reader did not last long.

I also have a couple of friends that got R4's after seeing my R4 and have had problems with there micro SD card readers awell (actually they had problems long before I did) so it is worth buying another Micro SD card reader or an SD card reader (use the micro SD converter that comes with most micro SD's) just incase

There is the odd bit of PD software that won't work correctly on the R4 alone because most the early software was made to work from slot 2 but this is a rather small amount of software.

P.S. Make sure your Kinston Micro SD's are Made in Japan, the korean ones have slower transfur speeds and can cause problems with some games.

I haven't had any problems with the card reader or the R4 flash cart (lucky I guess ). I don't have any other way to put roms on the SD Micro card, so I use that card reader a lot, even moving loads of other stuff like PSP games and PS2 games to and fro from my card. I download all the stuff at my company PC and take it back home Since we aren't allowed to carry any gaming devices inside the company, I can't take my PSP in, so I have to rely on my 1 gb SD Micro card and the reader I got with it

I've been using it for more than a couple of months now

Edit: I found it really weird when I read that Haldrie's R4 flash cart's spring system broke coz I think I bought mine way before he did and haven't had any problems with it yet touchwood

[Haldrie]

Well it hasn't completely broken but it is acting up a lot more now then when I first got it. Perhaps due to me swaping microSD cards too much to test stuff out. For now I've managed to work around the problems and get it to lock like it should but it takes a little bit of messing with it for it to lock.

[sharp]

Point of last few posts: Be gentle with the stuff. It breaks easy.

[JULEZAH]

Is there any way of getting the R4 to play GBA games?

I really want to play all the FF Advance games on my DS Lite and i read this stuff you wrote about making the R4 into an M3 but i don't get it.

[Haldrie]

At this time no. There is talk of an emulator but I haven't seen much info about it.

[Kazekage Gaara]

I also have a couple of friends that got R4's after seeing my R4 and have had problems with there micro SD card readers awell (actually they had problems long before I did) so it is worth buying another Micro SD card reader or an SD card reader (use the micro SD converter that comes with most micro SD's) just incase

Okay mine broke too ...I mean the USB reader Whenever I connect it to my comp, it says unrecognized Anyways, I just bought a card reader and am happy with it