In all my years here i never bothered to ask this simple question of how a rom file gets extracted from popular consoles. Since it is only a read only memory trying to extract it from cartridges or discs, do i need some type of software to do it? What kinds of hardware would i need? Is it available out there? If so can a novice like me figure it out without a manual? On a side note (still wondering)...is this somehow similar to accessing roms from a smartphone. The process it takes from "unlocking" the device and then saving a copy for later. I would save roms for personal use. There are more possible ways to do this, no?
you need hardware to do it for most systems, either an eprom dumper/programmer (involves destroying the cartridge to extract the rom chip) or hardware specific to the console.
in most cases the former is the easier option. DS is a significant exception in that its possible to dump roms by running software on the console. discs are generally software too.
I was just trying to figure out a way to preserve most of the data without harming the original software. Its good to see how consoles can be different.
when i dumped devil survivor 2 i did it over wi-fi if i remember right on the ds and 3ds you can use cfw to dump to an sd card too you should be able to dump switch games the same way when it gets cfw since it's pretty similar to the 3ds