Hardware Strange External Disc Drive Stuttering

UltraDolphinRevolution · May 26, 2017

I wonder if this is a common problem:

I've been using homebrew for about 6 years now (Wii disc drive had broken) via an external disc drive (Western Digital).

I have noticed a strange stuttering, most notably when using the pointer. The game stutters for a fraction of a second. It occurs a few times per minutes in most games. In Red Steel it happens much more frequently (almost unplayable). These hick-ups are no problem in story-based games but are indeed annoying when playing for high-scores or in multiplayer.

Not sure how long it's been like this. Maybe a year or more (just guessing). I'm pretty sure the external disc drive is to blame as it does not occur in the Wii menu (or channels like the photo channel). Also, the external disc drive makes a quiet beating sound from time to time (also when the stuttering occurs).

I have back-ups, so I'm not worried about losing data. Just wondering if this problem is known.

tech3475 · May 26, 2017

Have you checked if the drive is fragmented?

Fishaman P · May 26, 2017

To be clear, do you mean USB storage, or a USB DVD drive?

ScarletDreamz · May 26, 2017

Fishaman P said:
To be clear, do you mean USB storage, or a USB DVD drive?

Im pretty sure, there are no Western Digital USB DVD DRIVE, so its a USB storage.

UltraDolphinRevolution · May 26, 2017

tech3475 said:
Have you checked if the drive is fragmented?

I have not. But I might format(delete) it soon and see it if it helps. Thanks for the hint.

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Fishaman P said:
To be clear, do you mean USB storage, or a USB DVD drive?

An external hard disc drive.

tech3475 · May 26, 2017

UltraDolphinRevolution said:
I have not. But I might format(delete) it soon and see it if it helps. Thanks for the hint.

You may not need to format it, try running it through defraggler which can graphically show the level of fragmentation.

migles · May 26, 2017

UltraDolphinRevolution said:
I have not. But I might format(delete) it soon and see it if it helps. Thanks for the hint.

unless you using WBFS filesystem i.e. you are using fat32 or ntfs, you can just use a defrag program like user above mentioned.. there is no need to clean the entire thing..

UltraDolphinRevolution · May 26, 2017

tech3475 said:
You may not need to format it, try running it through defraggler which can graphically show the level of fragmentation.

Don't think it would work. It's in the WFBS format -> can't access it in windows. I wanted to switch to FAT32 anyway soon, but haven't done it yet. Thanks for the suggestion.

migles · May 26, 2017

UltraDolphinRevolution said:
Don't think it would work. It's in the WFBS format -> can't access it in windows. I wanted to switch to FAT32 anyway soon, but haven't done it yet. Thanks for the suggestion.

clean the entire thing and format as fat32 then

wbfs filesystem is obsolete. you can use wii backup manager to copy the stuff into the pc or even convert into fat32 IIRC

UltraDolphinRevolution · May 26, 2017

migles said:
clean the entire thing and format as fat32 then
wbfs filesystem is obsolete. you can use wii backup manager to copy the stuff into the pc or even convert into fat32 IIRC

Will do. However, I have ISO files, so I don't need to convert anything, I think. I know, many people kept their games in the WFBS format. My backups are ISO.

wicksand420 · May 26, 2017

You might have to update your d2x cios's also if its been a while.

wicksand420 · May 27, 2017

Also, if you get wiibackupmanager.exe not only can you use it to fat32 any size drive, but you can convert all your iso's to wbfs files and put them on your usb hard drive.

UltraDolphinRevolution · May 27, 2017

wicksand420 said:
Also, if you get wiibackupmanager.exe not only can you use it to fat32 any size drive, but you can convert all your iso's to wbfs files and put them on your usb hard drive.

However, it takes up more space, right?
Most of my ISO files are zipped.

GreyWolf · May 27, 2017

WBFS files take up way less space than ISOs. They only include the actual data that's needed by the title and none of all the extra empty space.

ov3rkill · May 27, 2017

UltraDolphinRevolution said:
I wonder if this is a common problem:

Also, the external disc drive makes a quiet beating sound from time to time (also when the stuttering occurs).

I have back-ups, so I'm not worried about losing data. Just wondering if this problem is known.

It's a dying HDD. Just back it up and get a new one. Sooner or later that HDD will die. That ticking sound is a sign.

UltraDolphinRevolution · May 27, 2017

I just deleted the external hard drive but upon choosing a new format I could only choose between NTFS and exFat. No Fat32.
I used Windows-Button+R -> diskmgmt.msc.
Could it be that my Western Digital drive does not even support Fat32? I've got a newer one as well but I wanted to test it with this one.

CaptainAdama · May 27, 2017

In order to format it to FAT32 you need an external tool like Guiformat. There are quite a few other programs as well.

UltraDolphinRevolution · May 27, 2017

ok thanks. I thought it was available just like that.
Seems like it worked. It's now Fat32.
(I used this program - if you can read German^^:
https://www.heise.de/download/product/h2format-40825 )

wicksand420 · May 27, 2017

GreyWolf said:
WBFS files take up way less space than ISOs. They only include the actual data that's needed by the title and none of all the extra empty space.

Yes, some games like paper mario are huge as a iso, but the game is only a couple hundred MB's

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Like i said, wiibackupmanager.exe formats HDD of any size to fat32, i think there is even German language files also, For the wii or wii u i never use anything else to format, it works perfectly and i never had any problems with it.

UltraDolphinRevolution · May 27, 2017

Update: So after formatting the external hard drive (FAT32) and using WiiBackupManager I can say that it seems to work flawlessly. I only tested one game so far but I haven't heard the ticking sound yet. Thank you for your advice!

Hardware Strange External Disc Drive Stuttering

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