Load Your Wii Games From A Hard Disk, Part II

@enki: lol

David Gilling

I am definitely doing this when I get a chance. My Wii Sports game is already half dead :(
BTW, Cover Flow USB Loader looks awesome!

The ability to play any of my games without disc-swapping and getting off the couch seems worth the trouble for me. I'm in.

@ridgecity: Don't quote me but I don't think you'll have any problems with online play.

I used this ([gbatemp.net]) to install Cover Flow. Don't forget USB Forwarder to complete the awesome. Directions are on the same page.

hught78

Anyone know if there's any possibility of playing Gamecube backups via USB external hard drive? I hear that'll be a tough nut to crack.

hught78

@jbisch: The hack is not region specific, so bot PAL and NTSC games work.

TheAznSensation5

Won't we get banned by Nintendo when connected for online play?

Does anyone know a guide to install "Cover Flow USB ISO Loader" eveyone says this is the best.

ridgecity

@CapitalJigga: Makes me wish the ex-girlfriend didn't take the Wii with her when she left. :(

enki

@Joseph Smrekar: You're half-right, I think.
Thing is, when in a NTFS partition (say, my main one), the ISOs have indeed 4.47 (something something) GB, BUT, when I fire up WBFS manager, and copy the ISOs over to the WBFS partition, they only take up the space they're supposed to take, like... Well, Wii Sports is only 0.60 GB large... :P

@TheClaus: Nope, the wii is kinda picky when it comes to hard drives. I dunno if anyone made some kind of list already, but, so far, I think smaller hard drives have a larger probability of working.
I've seen people flash around 1TB discs with wii games, though.

I myself use a 2.5'' 250GB Toshiba drive I picked up at staples last week :P

@FaRReR: I used TH too. It was really cool xD

The Bannerbomb is uber nice too, less of a chore, and easier for the n00bs, I think.

@Clifton Tarpy: WBFS Manager will get the job done ;)

@wickedcupofjoe: If your games are scratched, you still own them, so I think it is legal to download them from somewhere in the interwebz.

Can't say for sure, though.

(yeah, SSB is dual layer. The only one I've seen so far on my wii, though)

@jbisch: I'm pretty sure it'd work. I've had my share of wii hacking, tutorial following and SD unplug-on-wii-plug-on-pc...

It's really cool running games from a usb drive^^

I dont think you would want to. This hack allows backup of game data, so the file is <4gb. some games are <2gb. So the bene is, more games. why would you want to put ISOs on it? it's better to burn theISO and then back it up.

Joseph Smrekar

@Christopher J. Sutherland:

Yep same boat. Mario Kart and Wii Sports so scratched they won't boot. Have done this for the past month or so and it also saves me from having to change the game for them every 10 minutes. They can do it themselves.

powaking

@MasterChi!?!: Depends - if you have the Homebrew Channel installed you could use a freely available program to backup your saves to an SD card or a USB drive. If not, you could always pay Nintendo ;)

@Mint137: RIP Twilight Hack. I was one of the lucky ones, hacked mah homebrew channel in before they upgraded to the TH-killing FW. :)

@Type1: Backups... *drools*

The SD Card Port on my Wii is bad and the funny thing is I've never had a need to use the SD Card until one day I tried to backup my save games, unfortunately that was after my warranty is expired so it could have been bad since day one.

Anyone else have issue with a bad SD Card Reader? Do you think there is any possibility of my buying one of those 18 in 1 USB SD Card Readers and plugging it into my Wii and it working? I'd love to do this or at the very least backup my saved games :(

Stupid nintendo, atleast the Xbox360 has multiple ways to backup (hdd,memory card, usb flash drive). Please someone, any suggestions for what i can do.

I have done this just to play with the homebrew channel and it was very straight forward and easy. I would like to know if any external hard drive would work.

@SloYerRoll: Alternatively, you can get an external IDE- or SATA-to-USB enclosure for ~$20. Granted, this only works if you have an extra drive kicking around.

Aquila76

@FreeChaos: You can get an external 250GB HD for under 60 bucks.

SloYerRoll

I did this last week, and it works brilliantly. As someone who already lost a game due to an overzealous five-year-old, I highly recommend it! Now all the discs are stored on the top shelf of my office where they won't get scratched.

Christopher J. Sutherland

@Andrew Covarrubias: Semantics, it's quite dashboardy.

@Clifton Tarpy: You gave yourself away the moment you said "hypothetical".

//I use that excuse all the time. "Hypothetically, if I unlock and hack my phone, the warranty is voided right?"

SJRNWT

This is not an XBox 360. There is no Dashboard.

Andrew Covarrubias

@Clifton Tarpy: So basically, you've obtained some "backups" from an alternative source, I wouldn't see how it would NOT be possible [double negatives ftw] to just copy it to the hard drive. I haven't read the article completely but it might only take certain image files.

Mint137

Nice to know they have a replacement for the twilight hack. I have system 3.3 right now and haven't updated due to that. Will get to this when I get the chance.

Mint137

@jbisch: yes

colineff

@Clifton Tarpy: The WBFS Manager lets you view the drive where normally Windows wouldn't like it. It's this program that allows you to copy ISOs directly from your PC onto the drive, or copy them off.

Which means that you could in fact have your original Wii games backed up onto the portable hard drive, and those backed up on your PC.

b0ring

@Clifton Tarpy: Such as, say, your friend? When you took your legal games round to his house, where he could rip them?

I can't see why it wouldn't work, no.

@Type1: 'backup'? That sounds like a euphemism! There's no shame in playing homebrew, you know! ;)

Let's say hypothetically I already had a Wii game in ISO form on my PC... Is there a way to extract that onto the hard drive, or simply copy it over, and launch the game that way?

What I'm trying to get at is, does the game need to be ripped off of a disc, or can you use existing rips from... somewhere else.

Clifton Tarpy

@Diablo1123: That's my worry. We have a bunch of games that I'd love to do this for since the kiddo tends to get rough with the games. One main game is Super Smash Bros. We sent the Wii back to Nintendo to be fixed to read SSB and we got a note back saying that the SSB game disc is a dual-layer and needs extra care.

@Type1: Yeah, that's what I use it for. My 'backup' games.

kirby822

Yeah I sacrificed a 500gb hard drive for this, and unfortunatly some of my games were already so scratched I couldn't even backup them.

Diablo1123

@Jason Fitzpatrick: Not into importing, eh Jase? :P

The issue is that consoles are often "Region Locked", meaning different places can't play other places games. It's ridiculous.
I think the Wii is region locked, however it's likely the hackers have attempted to circumvent that, so hopefully it'd work.

Yup, the lack of $ really puts me off from buying many new games so I have to replay all of the current ones that I have. But taking them out and forgetting them they get all dusty and scratched. I don't know if this is a good idea, because basically I'm going to spend somewhere around 70-100+$ for storage for some games. However, I see it as a great hack for 'backup' Wii games.

Type1

@jbisch: I couldn't answer that question with absolute authority, but I can't see why not. The hack handles where the data is coming from, not what format the video output for the game is in.

Does this hack support PAL as well as NTSC?

jbisch

I just wish I could afford an external HD.

FreeChaos

Wow, this is a great hack. Makes me wish I didn't sell my Wii and almost makes me want to get another one.

CapitalJigga

@Joshua L Lewis: "Not that you'll ever get caught or anything" I think it would be best if you did not perpetuate this flawed state of mind. You can be caught. Sure, the chances are relatively low, but it can happen.

@ThayerDia: That's not true. I have loaded isos that I downloaded from the internet onto my hard drive and been able to play them. You don't need to have the original dvd.

kirby822

So, now I don't need a mod chip to play backed up games? I am confused.

VillePolyphemus

Has anyone had success running DVDX on system 4.0?

ltighe

Not sure if ill get any help on this here but... How the heck do you rip games? I know that you have to have a special drive for the computer, and the only other way i could find was to use a homebrew app but for some reason you cant rip it straight an HD you have to use the SD card or do it over wifi (which ive done twice and both times it d/c on me and left me crying...)

LoreleiGalopamonster

Reading the guide, it looks like I'll have to format my external hard drive to do this. That sucks, but I can deal with it. Will I be able to add non Wii games later, though? Right now I have a ton of movies and music stored on it. Will I be able to put that stuff back later and still run backups?

@555Filk: well it sounds like it will be about the same. The difference is that with 4.0 you have the SD menu but I guess it really doesn't matter if you have homebrew.

From reading the article however it sounds like the 4.0 version of the hack turns out to be moderately easier.

Joshua L Lewis

@ridgecity: The article linked in the story goes over that loader as well near the end.

Joshua L Lewis

@MasterChi!?!: Well depends. Have you updated to the 4.0 menu system? If not you might want to check your SD card. It didn't take SDHD cards (cards over 2gigs) before 4.0. Also it can still be picky with the kind of card you use. I'm not sure. i haven't had the problem but if it's picky with HD, it can sure be picky with SD cards as well.

Joshua L Lewis

@SJRNWT: Not if you flash back to stock and relock it before sending it in. FTW!

Joshua L Lewis

@Gonz: As long as you own the physical disc you can own the right to use the data legally as long as it is only used on one Wii at a time. So you cna't back it up and share ti with your neighbors or over your network or anything.

Not that you'll ever get caught or anything but I know some people like to follow the law, especially when kids are watching. I totally understand.

Joshua L Lewis

@David Gilling: Sounds good. Just use WBFS to load the Wii .iso files, because otherwise you'll have to use the Wii's CD drive to copy the files off of, which doesn't work too well if it's broken. :P

dobbybabee

@hught78: I don't think it's going to happen for a while, because the gamecube and the wii parts of the system are actually seperate -- this is why you can't go back to the wii menu within a gamecube game. They'll have to figure out how to get the Gamecube side to interact with the Wii side, which, although not impossible, would be, as you said, a tough nut to crack.

dobbybabee

@jbisch: I think the hack supports NTSC and PAL but you can't use NTSC games if your Wii is region-locked to PAL. Anyway if what you are doing is downloading games, some games have been made region-free by ppl.

Ian Katz

I have been meaning to do this since the last article was published. Is there any advantages/disadvantages to either one of these two methods? I still have the old 3.3 or 3.4 firmware and the Zelda game.

555Filk

I can't get to either this link or the old one. Did we break their website?

you need a modchip to run a game burnt from an iso... this works with only original dvd's backing them up on the wii... that is why would want to directly extract/copy the iso to the drive then run it on the wii...

ThayerDia

Just out of curiosity, am I the only one unable to load Mike's webpage?

I was somewhat unwilling to downgrade my system last week as I've had trouble with it in the past, so I'm hoping that Mike's new guide involves a more cheerful workaround :)

goldberry2000

On ebay.com I see for about 20$+P&P Wiis with broken CD readers. That would be cool, as I don't think the installation process uses a CD... Only I'm in Italy and postage is like 35$, and I can't find any on ebay.it or .co.uk :(

What'cha think anyway?

David Gilling

I like usbloader gx better than mike's recommended coverfloader which has more eye candy... in any case thanks for the guide mike and lh...

LoringDamputer

@Diablo1123: Don't know if this is of interest to you, but I found a place online that can recover scratched disks, better than an off the shelf "scratch remover" The returned discs I sent in were near new quality.

www.azuradisc.com
800-933-4923 (USA only)

Jarrett Prichard

@jbisch: Yes, but you'll need to install something like preloader, or several ios's.

SneakyPanda

Same here. thank goodness there is this new technology that lets people share electronic media for just this reason. ;-)

AndreaHayabusa

Another reason for this hack: cheat codes :)
Load the games with Ocarina codes and it's like using the old Action Replays. That, and the dead-silent operation are why I did this.

LightningRurik

@Gonz: Yeah, too bad Nintendo will probably fix the exploit it in the next update.

MehStrongBadMeh

@hught78 said: "...I don't think you'll have any problems with online play."

Damn, sorry.

@LoringDamputer: I went straight for the eye candy and found that it also has easy access to some handy settings, like forcing NTSC on PAL games. Good times.

@TheClaus: I'm using a WD My Passport. Works great.

Followed the guide and now everything is hunky dorey 100% on my wii. Thanks for this guide...it truly rocks!

Gaither Stephens

@SloYerRoll: ebay and get like an old 40GB SATA for like $15 or whatever

Looking for a little assistance... I posted this on their site as well. I've hit a rough spot at step 3.

Everything is peachy until the CIOSv7.wad install. I keep getting "ret = -1035" and HBC shows I'm using IOS61. Yes, I'm selecting IOS35 in the WAD Manager.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm unable to even find out what this error code means. Thanks
guys.

Charlie Campbell

@Ben!: Yeah, it's not a problem. Just make sure your WBFS partition is the first partition on the drive!

lowtolerance

@ThayerDia: You do not need a modchip, and you do not need the original disk. Please don't spread misinformation.

lowtolerance

@LoringDamputer: I also prefer usbloader gx, after trying a few others. The team developing it reminds me very much of the early XBMC developers, meaning they're very active with the project and are quick to address issues and feature requests.

lowtolerance

@TheClaus: WD My Books work, too. However, I've noticed that if WiiConnect24 is not disabled, then the hard drive never spins down, which might shorten its life? I don't know if this is true for all external hard drives or it's a problem specific to some, but it doesn't affect functionality.

lowtolerance

@MehStrongBadMeh: There is a new exploit in development for Super Smash Brothers Brawl, which hopefully will replace Bannerbomb once Nintendo nixes it.

lowtolerance

@poboxy: Incorrect sir. It doesn't matter if you own the game or not that affects the legality of such actions. Uploading/Downloading the game's data is what you can be prosecuted for, because that falls under the "No unlawful reproduction" fine print that flashes at the opening screen. However, if you made your own copy for backup... I believe there is nothing wrong with that.

Gregg Counci L

I use WiiCoverFlow (CoverFloader) and it is absolutely amazing. It presents all of the games on your harddrive like iTunes album coverflow. It also automatically downloads game titles and covers, including 3D covers so you can see not only the front, but the back as well. They just released RC6, and it continues to wow and amaze me with each update.

@Ben!: I ran into the same issue. The only option you have if you want to use the same external hard drive for regular files and Wii backup will be partitioning the drive. Figure about 3GB per Wii game and you've got the size of the WBFS partition needed to play Wii games. Refer to Step 8 in the tut from here on in.

hught78

@VillePolyphemus: You haven't needed a modchip to play back-up games for quite some time now, thanks to the Back-Up Loader.

What this does, is allow you to take the disc part of your back-ups out of the equation. Instead of burning a copy of your game, and that being the back-up, you just rip it to your external hard drive and play it from there.

tali3sin

This has to be one of the most well written tutorials I have ever seen. It only took me about 3 hours total ( spread over 2 sessions) to complete this hack. I now have most of my daughter's games backed up, and playable, from a 250GB USB hard drive. The cover flow interface is great.

Thank you Jason and Mike

dgeezer

@Diablo1123: Most of the games can be found on torrent sites, so you can just download the games that you already own. And you may also test others before buying them.

poboxy