Every JKSV user eventually asks the same question: should save backups live on the SD card, in the cloud, or both? The honest answer is both, but for different jobs. Local copies restore instantly and work offline; cloud copies survive the failures that take the card or the console with them. This guide explains how to combine them into a routine that actually holds up. Start with JKSV from the download page, then use this page with the rest of our cloud backup hub to build your setup.
What local backups do best
A local backup in the /JKSV/ folder at the root of your SD card is the fastest thing to restore and the only option with no network involved. It is the right tool for the everyday risks: a save edit that went wrong, a game update you want to roll back from, or testing something you might regret. Local backups can also stay as unpacked folders, which is the form PC save editors want, so your working copies belong on the card.
The weakness is shared fate. The backup lives on the same card, in the same console, as the original save. Card corruption, a lost console or a serious filesystem problem can take original and backup together, which is why local-only is a partial strategy no matter how often you back up.
What cloud backups add
A cloud copy, sent to Google Drive through the native integration or to a WebDAV backend, survives everything that happens to the hardware in your hands. That is its whole job. JKSV sends cloud backups as ZIP archives, a single sealed file per backup that travels and stores cleanly, and with auto-upload enabled the copy happens as part of backing up, not as a separate task you can forget.
The costs are dependence and trust: you need a connection at backup time, restores need a download, and your archive sits under a provider’s account rules. Setup guides for both paths are in this series: Google Drive setup and the WebDAV setup guide.
The 3-2-1 principle, applied to saves
Backup professionals use the 3-2-1 principle: keep three copies of anything important, on two different kinds of storage, with one copy off-site. Translated to JKSV, that means the live save on the console, a local backup on the SD card, and a cloud copy with Drive or a WebDAV provider. Each copy covers a failure the others cannot: the card covers bad edits, the cloud covers lost hardware, and the live save is what you actually play.
For the saves you care most about, add one more habit: occasionally copy the /JKSV/ folder to a PC when you connect the card for other reasons. It takes a minute, costs nothing, and gives your archive a second physical location that no account problem can touch.
A routine that survives real life
Put together, a resilient routine is simple. Back up before risky changes, such as editing a save or updating firmware. Let auto-upload send each backup to the cloud, and keep local backups enabled in JKSV so the card copy always exists too. Once a month, glance at the cloud folder from your PC and confirm the recent ZIPs open. Once in a while, restore a small backup as a drill, because a restore you have practised is worth more than three you have only assumed.
If you are choosing a WebDAV host for the cloud leg, the provider comparison and the pCloud walkthrough cover the realistic options without hype.
What neither copy can do
Be clear-eyed about the limits. No backup strategy makes modified saves safe to take online, and restoring edited saves in connected games carries risk that a good archive does not remove. Backups protect your progress from loss; they do not change Nintendo’s rules or make any save invisible. Keep online play and heavy editing on separate expectations, back up the original before any edit, and you will get the real benefit of this system: never losing hundreds of hours to a dead card again.
Local for speed, cloud for survival, and both together for peace of mind. That is the whole strategy, and JKSV is built to run it.