Topic: 3DS to 3DS XL transfer

I hope someone can answer this for me, Iost my 3DS a few months ago and decided to buy a 3DS XL as a replacement (annoyed that I'd lost all of my downloaded content). Since then I've bought quite a few things from the eshop (including New Super Mario 2 this morning). Much to my shock I've just this second found my old 3DS and want to transfer the old content from it to my 3Ds XL.

Can I do this without losing the content already on the 3DS XL, I don't want to transfer games to the XL and then suddenly find the existing purchases (like NSMB2) has been lost from the XL as it now is linked to the old 3ds purchases. Any help appreciated, thanks.

You can't actually.

If you do a system transfer the source system that you transfer from (which will be your normal 3DS) will overwrite everything that is on the system you're transferring too (the 3DS XL). So, sadly, all the downloadable content on the XL will be deleted/replaced if you perform one - or vice versa.

It's a big annoyance, but that's how it works.

Thank you, you have just saved me a lot of frustration, I almost wiped everything out

No problem.

It doesn't wipe the games though. All your eshop games from both systems will combine onto the source system along with the eshop balance. If you don't want to lose your streetpass data you just put the stuff from your SD card onto your computer and then put it back on the SD card when the system transfer is done.
Check out http://nintendolife.com/news/07/2012/guide_3ds_xl_system_tran...
It will tell you how to do it without losing anything or check out the support Page on Nintendo's website. It can be done.

mumof2kids82 is correct — check out our guide on the topic for details. i believe we even have a video available :3