Hacking Has anyone ever tried this out? Regarding playing wiiu games via sd

[mysticwaterfall]

It should be noted that people have been using sdcards for DS games for years without problems. My AK2.1 on my DSL still has its original card without issue. I don't see how Wii U games would be any different.

 

[JoostinOnline]

Yes, flash memory devices have a limited number of write cycles, but its so high that you're unlikely to actually wear them out with typical use before they get replaced with a bigger/faster version. I mean, really, just think how much wear and tear an SSD with Windows must go through. Also, Wii U games shouldn't be writing to the memory device they're stored on. They're designed to be run from discs, which are read-only.

It's write AND read cycles. This isn't some DS game either. There are hundreds of textures constantly being read from the source.

 

[Rydian]

It's write AND read cycles

It's only write cycles that can damage the actual media. The issue with reading the same block too much is known as "Read Disturb", but that is considered a temporary error, the block doesn't need to be marked as bad (just needs to be re-written which is often done by the controller software at first CRC error IIRC), and according to this document, is only expected to happen after "hundreds of thousands or millions" of read operations.
(PDF) http://download.micron.com/pdf/technotes/nand/tn2917.pdf

 

[TheNintendoEnthusiast]

The only reason this works is because it's technically being used as a "USB" instead of an SD Card, the WiiU still can't load games DIRECTLY through anything in the SD card slot as far as I can tell

 

[uyjulian]

I wonder why Nintendo doesn't load games off SD card... is it because of exploits? They why use SD card on 3ds? Weird, huh.
The Wii U has flash memory, too. So does the 3DS.

 

[JoostinOnline]

The Wii U has flash memory, too. So does the 3DS.

It's more expensive than a HDD, but it's also faster and far less fragile. You can toss a Wii U around the back yard without worrying about damaging the memory (although it might knock something else loose), but if you did that with an X1 or PS4, it would almost surely break the drive.

A Wii U is far more portable than other consoles (they have car adapters now, and you don't even need a TV screen), so it's better to have something that won't break if you hit a bump in the road.

 

[joaowiiu]

I know it's an old thread but I had to share this.

I also chose a sd card instead of a hdd. Why? Simply because I don't need that much space and I certainly didn't want another box next to my wii u since I have it on my living room. Plus I got a discount and bought a 64gb sdxc for 20€ and already had a card reader.

At first this didn't work for me, using a basic multicard reader and the 64gb sdxc card. Got stuck at checking usb devices... That's when I read you need a usb y cable for external hdd without power supply.

Had a y cable lying around at home with no usage and... It worked!! Those Wii U usb ports may not give enough power even for a card reader... So if it happens to you it may not be that the card reader is not compatible, but simply that you need a y cable.

 

[OriginalHamster]

Nintendo should enable the SD slot in Wii U mode, at least to share saves

 

[Reecey]

That video is absolute bollocks, cause you can run e-shop downloads from sd-card, all it is your sd-card is a memory extension of the wiiu all he had to do was stick it into his front slot and it would of done the same thing the little device he uses did, its just a pun to make you think wow I can run wiiu games of an sd-card! OMG how dense and to think he actually made a video of it to make believers out of people!!! Actually tbh thinking about it again it all depends on how you interpret the video, what he says is true but if your looking at the angle off, can I play ISO's through my sd-card then no. If someone could dump e-shop titles then this method in turn could work! I don't know also if you could take someones sd-card with e-shop tiles on and transfer them onto yours for free, it could then work on your wiiu, I'm not sure I have never tried it myself?

 

[Deboog]

Why is this under "Hacking and Homebrew"?

 

[Captain_N]

Using sd cards in a usb adapter as external Storage on Wii U works Well. I use a 128 GB flash drive for storage. i use smaller flash drives to backup my saves. Id be nice if the internal SD slot could be used to store Wii U Data.

I just tried my USB powered Iomega Zip 250 Drive on the Wii U with a 100MB Zip Disk. To my amazement it worked. The Wii U found it and formatted it for total storage of 76MB. I moved the Uplay app over to it and it launched and ran off the 100Mb Zip disk with no problem.
So yeah as long as the device is a "USB Mass Storage Device" it seems to work. I guess i have the only Wii U with a Zip Drive on it lol.