Just bought myself a DS lite, and of course want to buy a backup device, i already have a slot 2 device from my SP (ECube Flash 1G), and so far it seems to be working fine for GBA backups.

But i know to play DS backups i'll need a slot 1 device, i've read a few posts and reviews and had narrowed it down to a R4 or M3 simply, the R4's are all out of stock here in the UK, and the M3 is around £7 more, so its not goin to break the bank.(i know they are almost the same device, well the first batch were)

I think i know all i need to, its as simple as ordering it now and a micro sd card, right?

Just a couple of things, how do i backup my DS games?(just reread the sticky) Does the M3 simply run its own OS or Moonshell? (if so, does moonshell need recompiling with every file added) What the size of most DS games?, so i can work out what size sd card to buy?

Would be great if someone could answer these questions for me, or give a little insight.(especialy someone with a M3 simply, as im not planning on flashing my DS)

thanks.

You can run DS backups from slot 2 also. You just need a passcard.

I have a DS-Xtreme and it is 512MB (4Gb) of space. It holds about 10-12 games. However, Nintendo just kicked up the allowed limit for a game. Future games may take 512MB by themselves or even a Gig.

If you do get a M3 Simply or an R4, try to find a Kingston 1GB from Japan. Japan has the best speeds. I think the Taiwan made have slowdowns on 1 or 2 games.

I do not know too much about the M3 Simply OS. Sorry.

There are other slot-1 cards available like the Supercard DS One and EZ-Flash V. You can see if they are available locally as well.

thanks for the replys

For ordering, i havn't looked many places yet, but http://www.modchip-store.co.uk seems like it stocks what im after and the prices seem cheap enough.(its uk based too)



I currently have a slot 2 device, but it sticks out the DS, if i want to play DS roms, GBA roms and homebrew, am i better off buying a (new, smaller) slot 2 device with a passcard? (im basicly looking for best all round compatibility, but will sacrafice GBA compatibility for better DS and Homebrew compatibility) (http://www.modchip-store.co.uk/M3-Lite-Micro-Sd-Inc-Passcard-3-p-264.html)



Thats the main reason i was put off buying a DS-X, no expandability.

Since you already have a slot-2 cart. I would say a slot-1 is your best bet. The passthru is built into the cart.

The DS-X has the best homebrew compatibility of all the slot-1s, and acts as a passthru. The limited space isn't that bad of a problem, and especially for you, since you have the expandability of a slot-2 already. You can access either one depending on which you want to use.

The M3 Simply and the R4 also have passthru features. I do not know if the ones Jon Jon mentioned do or not.

So basically if you get a slot 1 cart, you can have the best of both worlds, since you already own a slot-2.

Since Slot-1 cart technology is brand new, almost all homebrew was created, up till this point, with Slot-2 in mind. Obviously, that is gonna change.

So, I would say get a slot-1 and deal with the slight sticking out of the slot-2 until all the homebrew you want runs good on slot-1. And you can still use the old slot-2 carts for GBA if you ever want to.

The DS-X breaks the bank more than the M3 Simply or R4, and the added memory will be useful in the future.

I'm very new mind.

Thanks for the replys everyone.

I ordered a M3 Simply about 2 days ago and a 1GB Micro SD (Kingston) card (well, 2 of each, one for a friend too)

Just waiting on delivery now, hopefully wont be long. I decided that i will mostly use it for backups, so the DS-X just wasnt work the extra cash and the non-expandability really was the kicker.

I'm sure to be back soon posting how im getting on.

thanks again.