Nintendo 64 DexDrive

tl;dr Only runs on 32-bit versions of Windows. May not detect your controller pak until you allow it to WIPE it first. After that it works fine.You will need a serial port and a 32-bit version of Windows. Installer quietly fails to run on 64-bit versions of Windows. I think someone pointed out already that this is because the installer is a 16-bit app.I didn't have a floppy drive to install the software but it didn't take much internet searching to find the "DexPlorer" software on some enthusiast sites. I even uploaded the versions I found to VirusTotal and they appeared to be clean. You may want to do the same to be safe. I was able to download the old version that came on the floppies as well as an updated version that was available on InterAct's website before they shut down. Personally I thought the newer version's UI was flashy and dumb, but it did have more features than the old version.I used the actual serial port on my motherboard's BIOS. I believe others have pointed out that USB to Serial adapters work fine too. I never had to specify the COM port. It was able to discover it on COM1. (The COM port of a serial port can be set in Windows device manager. I found where I could change the COM port in my BIOS too, but Windows 10 seemed to keep it assigned to COM1 no matter what I did. Also DexPlorer rightly ignored Intel Management Engine on COM3.)Here's where things get a little disappointing. EVERY pak I tried on the DexDrive said it was incorrectly formatted and to press OK to format. I was hoping to preserve my old controller paks with this so that I could attempt to replace the battery in them without losing my old save data from 20ish years ago. I have a "TOMEE" branded controller pak I bought a couple weeks ago, as well as a very old "PERFORMANCE" brand "Memory Card Plus" which is a controller pak with four storage banks that you can switch between using a physical switch on the pak. Each bank acts as a regular 123 page controller pak. So all 4 banks of my 20 year old PERFORMANCE branded pak, and my newer TOMEE branded controller pak gave the same format error.So I checked to see what data I could afford to lose, and went ahead and let it format one of the banks of my big old controller pak. It worked fine after that. Made a quick Mystical Ninja save on the N64, and the DexPlorer could see the Mystical Ninja data and labeled it as such. I found a Cruisin' USA save on GameFAQs with all cars upgraded, and was able to load it onto the controller pak and confirm it worked on my console.So the bottom line is, it DOES work, provided you allow it to format (WIPE) your controller pak. This is obviously very disappointing to me because I obviously don't want to format my old controller paks. The point was to back them up.Perhaps if you have an official, OEM controller pak from Nintendo, it will work fine. I really wish I knew enough about RS232 to reverse engineer the protocol this thing uses and write my own software (especially given I have to run it on a dedicated computer I installed Windows 10 32-bit on to do it). Fun fact, you can install Windows 10 on any machine that has a sticker for Windows 7 or 8 on it. Just enter the serial number on that sticker during the Windows 10 install and it'll accept it. Microsoft provides a Windows 10 media creation tool for free to make an ISO to burn for bootable media (or to format a flash drive for installation via USB). Just make sure you pick 32-bit when you're creating the Windows 10 installation media.I have heard you can use a "Raphnet" branded N64 to USB controller cable and some other kind of software to make backups of your controller paks. That's probably what I should have done in this instance. As it stands now I actually have an Evercart 64 X7 on order and I think I'll be able to finally backup my controller paks with that when it arrives.

It works good but it just wouldn't save my wrestling game unlock wrestlers and somesettings. Only thing it save was my created characters and other made characters someonemade where I download from a game website. Like I said it works but if you think your going toget everything you unlock in a game you better think again before you buy this Dexdrive.

Software version 2.0 is available online, but seriously.... theres some issues when using this to pull non memory card save data files.

The DexDrive; one of the dreamy accessories back in the days of the N64. Memory cards had limited capacity, and while you could just buy more of them and transfer data between them, there was no real *official* way of backing up or transferring data past that. Worst yet, the memory cards from that era didn't use non-volatile flash memory, instead relying on the cheaper contemporary method of using volatile memory with a battery backup. What happens when that battery dies? In comes the DexDrive; a device that allowed the transfer of memory pack data to and from a PC by serial connection.To answer some questions and concerns:-I have successfully tested and ran the DexDrive and its software on a modern PC.-You will need to have either an RS-232 serial port, or a USB to RS-232 male converter.-The software comes on two 3.5inch floppy discs. If you don't have a floppy drive, you can find it on one of many N64 enthusiast sites.Have fun!

I have been wanting one of these for a long time. I have 007 The World In Not Enough and haven't been able to unlock some of the multi-player extras, but with this all I did was download a game save and use this to put it on a memory card. The downside is that you will need a COM port (RS-232/Serial), and that the software doesn't work very well with newer versions of Windows. In my case, I had to download software from the Internet because the floppy disks that came with mine were bad (not a big deal considering the usefulness of the product).

this is a great item if you use it as storage ... i cant get anything else on it to work such as the email and i cant get their webpage to show up (i think it doesnt esist anymore). it is the best storage though for your game's memory.

If you are running anything later than windows XP use an app called Dexter (The applications icon looks like Dexter From Dexter's Labratory) it should work on windows 8, I'm running Windows 7 and it works fine.

Works with windows 8.1. Great way to archive old saves in case carts don't survive.I used DexPlorer version 2.00.902 software and was usable. May also work with older versions but I haven't tried.