Where Does Recalbox Store ROMs and Saves?
Recalbox keeps roms, bios, saves, and config in the share tree at /recalbox/share, reachable over the network.
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Recalbox funnels everything personal through one tree: /recalbox/share. Roms per system, bios with MD5 checked names, saves that survive updates and factory resets, plus system/recalbox.conf for all settings. The whole tree shares itself over SMB with no password by default.
Boot files sit apart on the FAT32 side with recalbox-boot.conf for storage mapping. NAS setups remap share subfolders per protocol in that file. Deleting the system folder amounts to a factory reset, so treat it as the self destruct button it is.
Where Recalbox stores this, by platform
/recalbox/share
roms, bios, saves, and system config below it. Browse it at the RECALBOX network share or over SSH. Survives updates intact.
/recalbox/share/system/recalbox.conf
Single file for nearly all settings, per system overrides included. Pristine copies ship on the install for diffing.
Frequently asked questions
How do I move Recalbox to new hardware?
Copy roms, bios, and saves from the old share, then reinstall properly on the new board. Configs port, but machine specific settings deserve a fresh pass.
The share folder is missing on my fresh card. Why?
Boot once first. The share tree with roms, bios, and saves is created on first boot, so unbooted cards look empty.
Can ROMs live on my NAS instead?
Yes through recalbox-boot.conf on the boot partition for whole share mapping. Per folder SMB or NFS mounts split roms, saves, and bios across hosts.
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