Hacking 1TB external HDD: Format to WBFS or NTFS with.wbfs files?

[DEagleson]

Thanks for all the helpfull posts.
I desided to move to a 1TB drive once OpenWiiFlow adds support for FAT32 / NTFS.

Original post:
Im thinking on upping the storage space on my PAL region Wii, and im thinking of getting a cheap 1TB drive and put it in a external HDD case. (Thats confirmed to work.)

But i heard some time ago that WBFS formatted drives have a GB limit and people refer Fat32 formatted drives as "The fat mess".

So im thinking of formatting it to NTFS, and store the Wii images as .wbfs files.

The question im want answers to is if this solution is doable, and will my current HDD loader work (USB Loader GX latest rev.)?
If it wont work could i get a recommendation to a alternate HDD loader instead.

Info about my softmod:

PAL Nintendo Wii (Original System Menu 3.2) Safe updated to 4.2.
Waninkoko's cIOS r17
USB Loader GX (Main) and OpenWiiFlow v1.1 r25.

 

[r-win]

But i heard some time ago that WBFS formatted drives have a GB limit and people refer Fat32 formatted drives as "The fat mess".

So im thinking of formatting it to NTFS, and store the Wii images as .wbfs files.
Heh, NTFS = Not The Finest System

QUOTE(DEagleson @ Jan 27 2010, 02:08 PM) The question im want answers to is if this solution is doable, and will my current HDD loader work (USB Loader GX latest rev.)?
If it wont work could i get a recommendation to a alternate HDD loader instead.

Yes, it will work. I'm working on FAT/NTFS support for Wiiflow now, so it won't work there (yet).

I think you should use the filesystem you think is right for you. I've choosen FAT on my drive, since it works on most OS-es, and I can also use it to launch my homebrew from.

 

[DEagleson]

Thanks for the info r-win.

The reason why i want a NTFS solution is because of the 4GB limit, but if a WBFS formatted drive can handle 1TB without any issues i could continue using that.
But how does game installing work on FAT32 / NTFS if you want to take a backup from a retail Wii disc?

 

[r-win]

Thanks for the info r-win.

The reason why i want a NTFS solution is because of the 4GB limit, but if a WBFS formatted drive can handle 1TB without any issues i could continue using that.
But how does game installing work on FAT32 / NTFS if you want to take a backup from a retail Wii disc?

Installing to a FAT partition can just be done from the loaders itself. Installing to NTFS is not (yet) possible, since we mount that readonly.

 

[user0002]

I have a 1TB Buffalo drivestation HDD, downloaded one of the backup managers, formatted wbfs and just put the games there. I didn't use the entire 1TB though but made a 260GB partition. I also use the USB Loader GX and it works fine.

 

[XFlak]

The reason why i want a NTFS solution is because of the 4GB limit

games over 4gb are split into 4GB titleid.wbfs parts. So the 4gb limit wont affect you unless you are also using the hard drive for something un-wii related that requires a single file greater than 4GB

 

[icyrainz]

I use NTFS drive without problem in any games using CFG USB Loader. just use a folder wbfs for all your wii games, the rest can be used to store movies, music and data

 

[XFlak]

I use NTFS drive without problem in any games using CFG USB Loader. just use a folder wbfs for all your wii games, the rest can be used to store movies, music and data

yea, if NTFS supported writing... I would be all over that. But how are u supposed to backup original disks with a ntfs drive? either u would have to install it to a fat32 HD or SD card then transfer it over (pain in the ass), or you don't need this feature because you're a pirate... anyways, until the wii supports ntfs writing and also HBC support ntfs, I am going to stick to fat32 for my wii hard drive (I have an NTFS drive for all my other PC related files)

 

[DEagleson]

Thanks for all the helpful posts.

I could do a NTFS as main drive, and use my 16GB usb drive to take disc backups.
Would that work?

Edit:
Saw on USB Loader GX news page that only Hermes cIOS 222 / 223 is the only one supporting FAT32 / NTFS.
Is that true?

 

[ftothe3]

Saw on USB Loader GX news page that only Hermes cIOS 222 / 223 is the only one supporting FAT32 / NTFS.
Is that true?

yes

 

[DEagleson]

Well, thats good to know.

 

[XFlak]

Thanks for all the helpful posts.

I could do a NTFS as main drive, and use my 16GB usb drive to take disc backups.
Would that work?
yes, but I would make sure both drives are compatible with the usb loader before spending a lot of time formatting
Edit:
Saw on USB Loader GX news page that only Hermes cIOS 222 / 223 is the only one supporting FAT32 / NTFS.
Is that true?
yes, but specifically v4 of hermes 222/223