Storage choices for Nintendo’s latest console were a topic of controversy long before the release of the Switch. But it seems as though the talk over external storage may persist for some time yet. As it now turns out, storage cards cannot be transferred amongst different Nintendo Switch systems, with any Switch data on a specific card resulting in the card itself being blocked on every other console.
If a user tries to add a storage card that has already been used in another Switch, the following error message will appear:
The microSD card is being used by another Nintendo Switch console or was used on this console before it was initialised.
Delete the Nintendo Switch data on the microSD card to use it on this console.
Save data, screenshots, and other data not related to Nintendo Switch won’t be deleted. You can remove the microSD card if you don’t want to use it on this console.
Now without a doubt, this will be slightly disappointing for any of those who were looking forward to transfer your data across multiple Switch consoles. Though, it does somewhat help put into context the fact that Nintendo Switch save games are locked to the owned console, given that the save data itself would be completely inaccessible due to this implemented block on microSD cards that have already been used.
Interestingly enough, Nintendo does actually mention that the save data could be exempted from deletion in the above error message, so perhaps Nintendo does have plans in place for save data to be transferred between systems in the near future – although it may just be to ease early concerns that save data in general could be deleted. Because sure as hell, something like that can lead to a worrying dip in sales. So fingers crossed that’s not the case.
