Hacking USB Loader - HDD Compatibility

[shtonkalot]

Alright, I'm a bit confused as to whether NTFS will work with the loader. I have my HDD formatted in that and really can't copy everything off of it to reformat to FAT32.

Neither NTFS or FAT will work with the loader. Whatever drive partition you use will be formatted as WBFS and you will lose the FAT or NTFS formatting of that partition. If you are not familiar with partitions and filesystems you will probably find that your nice portable HDD that has your data on it and works fine on your PC now, will not work on your PC after you use this and all the files are gone.
You do NOT need a filesystem (E.G NTFS or FAT) on the drive to use this, when the drive is plugged in to the Wii and the loader is run it will look for a partition (or partitions, let's not complicate it yet) and give you the option to format it for use with the loader. You do need a partition on the drive though.
Many people get confused about partitions as they only think they're used when you want to split a drive into multiple volumes (E.G C: and D: on the one disk). You need a partition on any disk to use it with a filesystem most likely you will have only one, it will be FAT format and readable on whatever. Plug it into the Wii and reformat, bye bye data.

Bottom line, you will need to copy off anything on it that is valuable to you. IMHO, if you keep valuable data on an external drive with no backups you are asking to lose those files one way or another

There are ways to repartition a drive so you can have both your FAT and WBFS partitions on it. This can be done without losing data too but it is far from guaranteed. Backup your data, really.

 

[KeitaroBaka]

Just tested my hard drive and it's OK. Works flawlessly.

Verbatim 250GB 2"1/2

 

[WhySoSerious70]

Just bought a Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 2.0 External Hard Drive today. Worked with 1.1 right out of the box. Yay me!

 

[apcarr]

WD 250 BEVES Scorpio USB Powered in this case works great and matches the Wii too white case with blue LED's!

 

[jpref]

tried to use a cheap ide-usb adapter (15$) and it loads the game fine, but will freeze about 10-15 minutes into it(rb2 and gh:metallica). Im guessing that the single usb powered device is undercutting the demand that the usb needs and should have a dedicated power. anyone else have this type of setup, ill likely go to a 3.5 tomorrow.

 

[narfoner]

i can' extract/rip/dump orignal games with the usb loader 1.1 (1.0 does not works *g*). I press "+" then it opens the disc -> OK! Then I press again "A" to accept the dump progress and it returns to the start screen with a ">> SPACES NO NAME".. strange -.-

what to do?

does it still play the games? I ordered that drive from newegg before checking the compatibilty chart(stupid move). I saw the first person said it didnt work at all, i'm guessing that was due to using version 1.0. Now i see you say its working with 1.1 flawlessly with that glitch? how much space does it have after being partitioned? I already voided my order because i was worried it wouldnt work. I loved the 640gb for price and wouldnt hesitate to reorder if it works.

 

[Gamemaster1379]

Alright, I'm a bit confused as to whether NTFS will work with the loader. I have my HDD formatted in that and really can't copy everything off of it to reformat to FAT32.

Neither NTFS or FAT will work with the loader. Whatever drive partition you use will be formatted as WBFS and you will lose the FAT or NTFS formatting of that partition. If you are not familiar with partitions and filesystems you will probably find that your nice portable HDD that has your data on it and works fine on your PC now, will not work on your PC after you use this and all the files are gone.
You do NOT need a filesystem (E.G NTFS or FAT) on the drive to use this, when the drive is plugged in to the Wii and the loader is run it will look for a partition (or partitions, let's not complicate it yet) and give you the option to format it for use with the loader. You do need a partition on the drive though.
Many people get confused about partitions as they only think they're used when you want to split a drive into multiple volumes (E.G C: and D: on the one disk). You need a partition on any disk to use it with a filesystem most likely you will have only one, it will be FAT format and readable on whatever. Plug it into the Wii and reformat, bye bye data.

Bottom line, you will need to copy off anything on it that is valuable to you. IMHO, if you keep valuable data on an external drive with no backups you are asking to lose those files one way or another

There are ways to repartition a drive so you can have both your FAT and WBFS partitions on it. This can be done without losing data too but it is far from guaranteed. Backup your data, really.

Thank you very much for clarifying.

I'll just stick to DVD burned games I suppose

 

[tobeychris]

I'm using a 30GB iPod video and it works fine.

I put it in disc mode, and formatted partition 2 (27.86GB).

Tried Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility and it is very slow, but it works.

 

[shtonkalot]

all Storage Devices I've tested so far were compatible with USB_Loader once format it with Fat32 and initialized with WBFS from Gibbed , the loader will list the games and load it with no problem , Starting from 2GB $ony Stick and just finished testing Seagate 1TB with no problems at all , most common Error you might run into will be [ ret= -1 ] and this can be solved by shutting down the Console and unplug the Storage Device from the Console and the Power Cord if applicable then reconnect again and fire the console up and the Error will be gone

Enjoy

I've just been mesing with this method and it is not working for me.
Tried two devices I have had no luck with previously, a USB to HDD adapter and a 1GB USB stick. Still no good.

1st:
"Smart drive" brand 2.5" PATA to USB enclosure adapter with an unidentifiable (by me) controller chip.
When just plugging in with FAT32: ret= -1
Delete and create a new empty partition: ret= -1
Init with Gibbed's wbfs_win_delta: ret= -1
Tried replugging Wii power, replugging USB (both power and data cables), ran USB power from another device and used both ports for data. Tried without chip attached and with.

2nd:
"Sandisk Cruzer Micro" 1GB USB flash drive.
When just plugging in with FAT32: no error just pauses at loader screen without any text.
Delete and create a new empty partition: as above.
Init with Gibbed's wbfs_win_delta: as above.
Tried replugging Wii power, replugging USB and used both ports for data. Tried without chip attached and with.

My system:
Launch Australian DMS chipset PAL Wii
System menu 3.2E
internal (soldered) Wavebird receiver (switched off) and GC mem card.
Starfall, CIOS (v36 rev 09) and HBC installed.
USB Loader V1.1

I have 2 other USB Loader working USB devices that didn't require anything special to make work.

 

[studio1b]

TEST #1
Unit : Consus P 2.5" SATA to USB/eSATA Drive Enclosure
Cost : 21.99

WHERE I BOUGHT IT

the enclosure comes with a usb cord on it great and compact also it comes with 3 extra cables. ESATA CABLE , Y CABLE, POWER CABLE TO USB

 

[xyourmomx]

I've seen reports of the Kingston 8gb data traveler working on here and on the wiki, but I can't for the life of me get it to work.

I've gotten the error when trying it in the Wii, I used a wbfs tool to format it and it still gave the -1 error.

I even hot swapped it to trick it, by putting in a 512mb one that it did recognize, then swapping it out with my 8gb kingston and it formatted, installed a game, and played it. When I restarted the Wii and tried usb loader again, it gave the same -1 error.

So if people have gotten it to work... can you help a brother out?

 

[Keshire]

I've seen reports of the Kingston 8gb data traveler working on here and on the wiki, but I can't for the life of me get it to work.

I've gotten the error when trying it in the Wii, I used a wbfs tool to format it and it still gave the -1 error.

I even hot swapped it to trick it, by putting in a 512mb one that it did recognize, then swapping it out with my 8gb kingston and it formatted, installed a game, and played it. When I restarted the Wii and tried usb loader again, it gave the same -1 error.

So if people have gotten it to work... can you help a brother out?

I second this. I was also unable to get a 8gb Kingston Data traveler to work.

 

[supersonic88]

i just bought this, i wanna double check this is the right Western Digital My Passport Essential 250GB USB Drive
thats on the compatibility list, so can anyone confirm this for me :3?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...oductId=3144143

 

[THitsu10]

the problem im having.. is my drive going in to Standby/Sleep when it isn't read from for a few mins.. then it just freezes next time the game decides it want to read from it again

 

[pelago]

For external HDDs, is it the make/model of the enclosure (i.e. the USB controller chip and so on) or the HDD itself that is important to get correct?

 

[Sonic4Ever]

Iomega Prestige Portable 500gb.

One NTFS partition (~400gb), one WBFS partition (~100gb).

Works flawlessly.

 

[Metalraider]

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quick...1&InMerch=1


Doesn't work with Loader.

 

[warfab]

What works for me:

Buffalo MiniStation Lite

specifically Buffalo MiniStation Lite 250GB HDD (BUFFALO HD-PEU2 USB Device)

I have the HD-PE250U2/WH (250GB Pearl White) so it matches my Wii
VID=0411 PID=0157

 

[ether2802]

I'm using a 30GB iPod video and it works fine.

I put it in disc mode, and formatted partition 2 (27.86GB).

Tried Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility and it is very slow, but it works.

How can you format an iPod..?? doesn't all your songs would be deleted after giving the wbfs format..??

 

[cooldudechand]

I'm using a 30GB iPod video and it works fine.

I put it in disc mode, and formatted partition 2 (27.86GB).

Tried Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility and it is very slow, but it works.

How can you format an iPod..?? doesn't all your songs would be deleted after giving the wbfs format..??

everything will be deleted.... its been said 1000 times....