Does anyone have experience using the Island Transfer tool?

[Serabee]

EDIT: Happy to say I've officially used the transfer tool, and everything went swimmingly! Even get all the different characters transferred over was super easy~ I had one TEENY hiccup when I tried to use the island transfer tool since it said I didn't have the transfer tool or something on my system (@RoxasFan20 is this the issue you had?) BUT I realized it was because I had already moved my user data. All I needed to do was link my Nintendo account to one of my side user accounts, and it worked just fine after that!

My Switch isn't charging (yes, I'm very upset) and it looks like I'll need a new one. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience using the tool? I looked it up and it looks... complicated. And I'm just wondering if there are any glitches I should look out for or any important things I should know or anything. If you've used it, did it work well? Was it easy or hard?

I'm already upset enough about my Switch, if I lose my island, too, I'm gonna lose it

And, oh God... do I just take the SD card (or whatever it's called, to give more memory) from my current Switch and put it into my new one? Does everything transfer, including pictures? This is just gonna be so much more work than I needed right now

 

[JKDOS]

I do. There's actually nothing complicated at all. It will guide you through the process, which is very straightforward. You just have to answer a question or two such as "Are you receiving data or sending data". No glitches. It's official after all. Just don't try to quit or power off during the process.

ETA: It may be obvious, but the Switch that is receiving the data must not have an Animal Crossing save of its own. That should be the only requirement.

 

[Serabee]

I do. There's actually nothing complicated at all. It will guide you through the process, which is very straightforward. You just have to answer a question or two such as "Are you receiving data or sending data". No glitches. It's official after all.

Lol, I've heard of bad glitches with "official" things before so I'm just super paranoid. But I'm glad to hear your experience went well.

I'm honestly just kind of panicking right now since I wasn't expecting this (I always figured one of the control sticks would be the thing to kill it, and I figured that wouldn't happen for at least another 6 months) and I'm just thinking of everything I have to do to get a new Switch set up... I've got a busy week at work and was looking forward to unwinding after work (or during my online meeting, don't judge me) with my Switch. But now it's more complicated and I'm just so upset. I was literally about to eat lunch right before I figured it out (I tried two separate chargers- my regular one and my car one- and it said it was charging for a second, then when I tried unplugging it and plugging it back in, it didn't charge again) and as soon as I figured it out I instantly lost my appetite completely.

 

[Amilee]

i havent used it myself yet but i only heard good stuff about it from other people!

 

[Serabee]

Thanks!

Also, does anyone know if I need to transfer things individually if I have multiple residents? I'm still confused as to how that works...

 

[Amilee]

here is a good instruction for it https://www.imore.com/animal-crossi...l-how-transfer-your-island-one-switch-another

its also important that you backed up your island on your old switch, i hope you did that o:

 

[Serabee]

here is a good instruction for it https://www.imore.com/animal-crossi...l-how-transfer-your-island-one-switch-another

its also important that you backed up your island on your old switch, i hope you did that o:

Thanks, I'll check that out!

And I have the backup thing turned on, if that's what you mean. So I -assume-it should be backed up.

 

[Amilee]

Thanks, I'll check that out!

And I have the backup thing turned on, if that's what you mean. So I -assume-it should be backed up.

i just found this article about the back up https://game8.co/games/Animal-Crossing-New-Horizons/archives/292302
maybe you dont even need the transfer tool, since you cant use the original switch?

 

[Serabee]

Oh God... it says it might take awhile and things should be plugged in. I hadn't even thought of that, what if my Switch loses charge? Oh my God... what if I can't transfer my data?

Now I'm panicking again...

Post automatically merged: Oct 11, 2021

i just found this article about the back up https://game8.co/games/Animal-Crossing-New-Horizons/archives/292302
maybe you dont even need the transfer tool, since you cant use the original switch?

I can use it, but it's only got 21% of battery life left. And now I'm scared about transferring over all my data since it could take a long time and I don't know if my old Switch will be able to make it

 

[Amilee]

Oh God... it says it might take awhile and things should be plugged in. I hadn't even thought of that, what if my Switch loses charge? Oh my God... what if I can't transfer my data?

Now I'm panicking again...

Post automatically merged: Oct 11, 2021

I can use it, but it's only got 21% of battery life left. And now I'm scared about transferring over all my data since it could take a long time and I don't know if my old Switch will be able to make it

hmm maybe try the back up thing first then?
but i dont think you have to worry about it that much. as long as you have the back up enabled your island is saved on nintendos server! so even if you try to use the transfer tool and it fails you can still get the back up from nintendo
im just confused if you have to do something to use the back up function on the new system? like do you have to contact nintendo for them to allow it?

 

[VanitasFan26]

I tried to use it but then I got this error message telling me that I cannot do it because my other user doesn't own the game on the 2nd switch. I have a digital copy in case you are wondering. I tried to use it but I still kept getting that same error.

 

[Serabee]

hmm maybe try the back up thing first then?
but i dont think you have to worry about it that much. as long as you have the back up enabled your island is saved on nintendos server! so even if you try to use the transfer tool and it fails you can still get the back up from nintendo
im just confused if you have to do something to use the back up function on the new system? like do you have to contact nintendo for them to allow it?

My big panic right now is that I'm not sure if the console can stay on for how long it takes to transfer ALL my data, for every game... That'll likely take awhile. Maybe there's some way I can make sure to get the best battery life possible? Settings I could use?

And, I looked it up. If I do need to use my back up I need to contact Nintendo, which I'm PRAYING I don't have to do because I get such severe anxiety on the phone and I've heard of them refusing to allow people to use it before.

I tried to use it but then I got this error message telling me that I cannot do it because my other user doesn't own the game on the 2nd switch. I have a digital copy in case you are wondering. I tried to use it but I still kept getting that same error.

Oh, God... I've got a digital copy too. I hope I can figure out how to make that work...

 

[Amilee]

My big panic right now is that I'm not sure if the console can stay on for how long it takes to transfer ALL my data, for every game... That'll likely take awhile. Maybe there's some way I can make sure to get the best battery life possible? Settings I could use?

And, I looked it up. If I do need to use my back up I need to contact Nintendo, which I'm PRAYING I don't have to do because I get such severe anxiety on the phone and I've heard of them refusing to allow people to use it before.


Oh, God... I've got a digital copy too. I hope I can figure out how to make that work...

i feel you with the phone thing haha maybe email works too?
you dont need to transfer every game you can just download the digital ones from the eshop again for free. you only need to transfer the save data so that shouldnt take too long. but the island transfer might take a while so im not sure :/

 

[Serabee]

you dont need to transfer every game you can just download the digital ones from the eshop again for free. you only need to transfer the save data so that shouldnt take too long. but the island transfer might take a while so im not sure :/

I know the games get downloaded separately, but IIRC, last time I transferred save data it took a good while. And the article I read says island transferring takes awhile... I'm just praying my Switch lasts long enough.

 

[Amilee]

I know the games get downloaded separately, but IIRC, last time I transferred save data it took a good while. And the article I read says island transferring takes awhile... I'm just praying my Switch lasts long enough.

yea i hope for you that it lasts. does it lose battery even if its plugged in? maybe it just cant store it anymore? that would help at least

 

[Serabee]

yea i hope for you that it lasts. does it lose battery even if its plugged in? maybe it just cant store it anymore? that would help at least

It does not acknowledge being plugged in in any way, so plugging it in has absolutely no effect. It still loses battery exactly as if it wasn't plugged in.

It seemed like it was charging for a second in the car, but stopped when I unplugged it... maybe I can find a way to plug it in -just- right in the car and get some more charge.

 

[IndiaHawker]

My backup from a broken switch was restored easily before, and no phone calls, jut emails

 

[Serabee]

My backup from a broken switch was restored easily before, and no phone calls, jut emails

Thanks for that! I just got my new console and am transferring save data now, but next I'll be doing the island transfer.

Anyway, APPARENTLY you can't transfer save data without the system being plugged in (it's not just recommended, it's straight up required) but the good news is that my phone charger apparently works with my old Switch (who knew?). Of course... now I'm doubting if I needed a new one at all, since the old one is apparently still working okay, but my family's saying to just enjoy the new one and not worry about it. I mean, I make money now, so I guess I'll just consider the new Switch as something bought with my paycheck (my Switch wasn't doing all that great anyway)

 

[Bilaz]

I had the same issue you described with my switch. I don't know how these things work but my friend who's an electrical engineer told me to leave the switch and the charger alone and unplugged for 24 hours, then try again. If it still doesn't work another 24 hours. I did this and it's been working fine ever since.

 

[Serabee]

I had the same issue you described with my switch. I don't know how these things work but my friend who's an electrical engineer told me to leave the switch and the charger alone and unplugged for 24 hours, then try again. If it still doesn't work another 24 hours. I did this and it's been working fine ever since.

Yah, I actually managed to figure it out last night... I mean, it still depends on how it's plugged it, but it's now charging fine with my phone charger But this was AFTER I got a new one, though it turned out to be a good thing since I tested the control sticks on my new one and, holy cow, I was in total denial of how bad my other one were. So, now I have two Switches- one that works great, one that works okay. It was stressful at the time but it all worked out... and I might make a second island at some point