try this for a moderately in depth explanation of hacking and the 3ds hardware and software
also try 3dbrew for more depth

try joining the nintendo homebrew discord: here and ask in the #hacking-general or #dev channels

what can I do with CFW?

try seedminer

get custom firmware (try seedminer), make sure you follow finalising setup, then check here to learn to dump your save, edit your save, then reinject it

get custom firmware (try seedminer), make sure you follow finalising setup, then check here to learn to dump your save, edit your save, then reinject it

1. make a full nand backup through the godmode9 scripts (requires 1.1-1.5gb ish)
2. make a copy of essentials.exefs (found in sysnand virtual in godmode9)
3. make a copy of movable.sed (found in sysnand ctrnand/private in godmode9)
4. you can/should also copy boot9.bin and boot11.bin, found in memory virtual in godmode9

all of these should be then copied somewhere you won't lose them, eg your computer, or cloud storage, etc. after copying them to somewhere safe, they can be deleted from your console sd card to regain space

THIS SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED BY ADVANCED USERS, AS IT MAY HAVE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. go here, section 2 F.

here's a guide on TWiLightMenu++.

1. make sure both consoles have the latest version of Luma (this means you should hack the new one, try seedminer
2. do a system transfer from the previous console to the new one
3. when asked, do the PC method
4. when complete, use faketik on the new console (put the .3dsx in sd:/3ds then run it from homebrew launcher)

this will transfer over your NNID, any eshop games and all of your SD card content. because it is an official system transfer, tickets for your non-eshop content do not transfer (such as homebrew/cfw apps, custom themes and dumped games you've installed). however, running faketik regenerates these tickets so that you can use the content again. you shouldn't lose anything with this process.

1. turn off your console and put your SD card in your computer
2. open the SD card in the file explorer
3. select the Nintendo 3DS folder, right click and select Copy
4. go to your desktop
5. right click and Paste your Nintendo 3DS folder there
6. once the folder has copied to the computer, delete the Nintendo 3DS folder from your SD card
7. put your sd card back in your console
8. hold Start and power it on to launch godmode9
9. press the Home button
10. go to Scripts and make a nand backup (your options for which script to use may vary)
11. once the nand backup is done, turn the console off and put the SD card in your computer
12. right click the nand backup (in gm9/out) and select Copy
13. Paste it somewhere on your computer that you will remember
14. delete the nand backup from your SD card once it has copied to the computer
15. find your Nintendo 3DS folder on your computer
16. Copy it back to your SD card root directory
17. once it has copied, delete it from your computer

you have now successfully made and stored a nand backup

all you need to do is make the new SD card fat32 format (if it is 32gb or below, it probably already is) and then copy everything over from the old to the new.

IMPORTANT: if you have an NNID with purchases linked on the console, this process WILL NOT RELEASE IT for use on another console. if you want to keep your NNID and use it on another console, you should follow the instructions in "system transfer from a cfw console" BEFORE doing this process

1. in system settings, run a system format
2. once it's finished, put the SD card in a computer
3. format it (if it is above 32gb, you should NOT use the built in format tool, use guiformat for windows)
4. get boot.3dsx from here, and put it on the root directory
5. get "boot.firm" out of the latest release from this page and put it on the root directory
6. follow every instruction on this page

this will delete all content on your console, including games, their saves, and anything else you put on it.