The reassuring short answer is no: a normal ArkOS R36S update does not delete your saved games, save states, or library. The whole question of ArkOS R36S update saves comes down to one distinction — updating in place is safe by design, while wiping the card and starting again is a completely different operation.
It is an understandable worry. When you run ArkOS R36S on a handheld where everything lives on one small memory card, an update sounds like it might steamroller the lot. Hours of progress sitting next to the system files feels fragile, even when it is not.
This article explains what an update actually touches, where your saves live in relation to the system, and why the method of updating matters more than the update itself. It also walks through a simple backup routine in plain words, and what to check if saves ever look missing afterwards.
What an ArkOS Update Actually Changes on the Card
An update is concerned with the software, not with your stuff. It refreshes the system files that make ArkOS run: the underlying operating pieces, the menus you navigate, the emulator programs, and fixes for bugs found since the last version. Think of it as the handheld’s workshop being reorganised while your belongings sit in a different room.
Your games are data the system reads, not part of the system itself, so a routine update has no reason to go near them. The update process is written by people who update their own handhelds, and it is designed to land on a card full of games and leave every one of them exactly where it was.
What Can Change, and Why Updates Are Worth Having
What can change is presentation. A menu might move, an option might gain a new name, or a default setting might be tidied up. Those cosmetic shifts sometimes make owners think something was wiped, when in reality everything is present and only the furniture has been rearranged.
It is also worth remembering why updates exist at all. They fix emulators that mishandled particular games, improve how the menus behave, and patch problems in the system underneath. Skipping every update out of fear means keeping every bug too, and the design of the process means that fear is protecting you from the wrong thing.
Where Saves, Save States and Settings Live in Relation to the System Files
It helps to separate the three kinds of progress you own. In-game saves, the kind the original games themselves created, are stored with or near the game files they belong to. Save states, the snapshots you make mid-game from the emulator menu, are also kept as files alongside your library. Both travel with your games, not with the system.
Settings live closer to the system. Your preferences for each emulator and for the ArkOS menus are held in configuration areas that an update is more likely to tidy or refresh. In practice, the vast majority of settings survive an update untouched, but an occasional option returning to its default after a big update is normal and harmless.
Why the Separation Keeps Your Progress Safe
Your favourites list and recently played history sit somewhere in between: small pieces of information the menus keep about your library. They generally survive updates as well, and even in the worst case they are a convenience you can rebuild in minutes, not progress you can lose.
The key point is the separation. The files an update replaces and the files holding your progress are different files in different places. That separation is exactly why updating does not feel dramatic: the system changes around your library without swallowing it.
The Difference Between Updating in Place and Flashing a Fresh Image
Updating in place means using the update option built into ArkOS, or applying an update to your existing card. Your library, saves, and settings stay on the card throughout, and the system simply swaps its own working parts. For almost every owner, this is the only kind of update they will ever do, and it is the safe one.
Flashing a fresh image is a different animal. Writing a brand-new system image to a card rebuilds that card from scratch, and everything previously on it is erased in the process. This is normally done when setting up a new card or recovering from a serious problem, and it is where every genuine “the update deleted my saves” story begins.
How to Tell Which Kind of Update You Are Facing
Confusion between the two causes most of the fear. If your update path involves a computer writing an image to the card, stop and back up first, because that card is about to be wiped. If the update happens on the handheld itself, your library is not in the firing line. Owners recovering from a bad flash attempt may also find our notes on fixing a black screen after flashing useful for the boot side of the problem.
How to Back Up Your Saves Before Any Update, Step by Step in Words
A backup takes a few minutes and removes the worry entirely. The routine below copies the important folders to a computer, where they sit safely whatever happens to the card.
- Finish playing, exit your game properly, and switch the handheld fully off rather than leaving it asleep.
- Remove the memory card and place it in a card reader connected to your computer.
- When the card’s folders appear, open the area that holds your games, and find the folders containing your game files, saves, and save states.
- Copy those folders to a clearly named folder on the computer, and let the copy finish completely before touching anything.
- If you have room, copy the whole games area rather than picking through it; a complete copy is simpler and misses nothing.
- Put the card back in the handheld, confirm a game loads and a save is present, and only then go ahead with the update.
After the Copy: Two Habits That Protect You
Keep the backup until you have played for a while after the update and confirmed everything is where it should be. Storage on a computer is cheap, and the one time you need that folder, you will be very glad it exists.
Name each backup folder with the date you made it, and resist the urge to tidy old ones away too quickly. The most valuable backup is always the most recent one taken before something changed, and a small row of dated folders on your computer takes up less room than a single modern game.
What to Check First If Saves Seem Missing After an Update
Start by staying calm, because apparent loss is usually a display problem rather than real loss. Open the game and check both kinds of progress separately: load the in-game save from the game’s own menu, and separately try loading a save state from the emulator menu. One can look empty while the other is perfectly intact.
Next, check that you are looking at the same game file as before. Save states and saves are tied to the game file they were made with, so if a game was renamed, moved, or replaced with a different copy, its old saves can seem to vanish even though the files are still sitting on the card. Restoring the original file name usually reconnects them.
Checking the Card Itself, and the Simplest Fix of All
Then look at the folders on a computer, where nothing can hide. If the save files are visible with sensible sizes, your progress exists and the issue is on the handheld side. If the folders really are empty and you made a backup, copy the saved folders back and the story ends happily. Without a backup, check whether the loss followed a fresh flash rather than an update, because that distinction decides whether recovery is realistic.
One last simple check before assuming the worst: shut the handheld down fully, remove and reseat the card, and start it again. Cards that are not seated perfectly, or a system that was interrupted mid-write, can make a healthy library look empty for one boot and perfectly normal on the next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do save states survive an ArkOS update as well as in-game saves?
Yes. Save states are stored as files alongside your library, just like in-game saves, so an ordinary in-place update leaves both kinds of progress untouched.
Will my settings reset when I update ArkOS?
Most settings carry across. An occasional option may return to its default after a major update, which is a minor annoyance rather than data loss, and it takes a moment to set again.
How often should I back up my R36S saves?
Before any update or card change, at minimum. Many owners also copy their saves after a long play session in a favourite game, since the copy takes only a couple of minutes.
Can I update ArkOS without a computer?
Yes, the built-in online update works on the handheld itself where a connection is available. A computer is only essential for the backup step and for flashing a fresh image.
Conclusion
Updating ArkOS is designed to refresh the system while leaving your games, saves, and save states exactly where they were, and for in-place updates it does precisely that. The real danger has never been the update itself; it is wiping the card with a fresh image without copying anything off first. Treat the ArkOS R36S update saves question as a reminder to keep a simple backup habit, and you can update whenever you like without giving your progress a second thought.