Question about playing Wii games directly off of the USB vWii

[NiGHTS2002]

Can I simply use a USB in VWii to run backups of Wii games off of the USB with USBloader or is there any conflict with that? Would one require a USB or a Harddrive with a y cable? This is a question from my partner about it, so hopefully this is worded clearly enough (as I don't know too much about Wii U hacking myself, but he knows alot more)

 

[Shadow#1]

Can I simply use a USB in VWii to run backups of Wii games off of the USB with USBloader or is there any conflict with that? Would one require a USB or a Harddrive with a y cable? This is a question from my partner about it, so hopefully this is worded clearly enough (as I don't know too much about Wii U hacking myself, but he knows alot more)

If it's a hdd either externally powered or if portable drive needs y-cable and don't use a thumb drive

 

[Videomanman87]

I would like to add to that a bit:

-While a lot of people say a y-cable is enough, I think often it won't be enough and your drive will get corrupted. It might be fine for a long time then all of the sudden all your data is ruined. Not worth the risk in my opinion. Get a externally powered drive to be certain.

-Don't format the drive with the WiiU. It will prompt you as soon as you plug in a USB drive, but if you do only the WiiU can use it, not the VWii.

-Use Ustealth. It is a program that will let you 'hide' a USB drive from the WiiU so it does not prompt you all the time to format. While you can always decline, it is easy to mess up one time and click yet wiping everything on the drive. Think of Ustealth as insurance against this. But to put more games on the drive from your PC, you will need to turn off Ustealth first. Then turn it back on before plugging it back into your WiiU (or it will start prompting again to format).

-USBLoaderGX is probably your best option for loading games off of a drive in VWii mode.

 

[wiiugigachad]

I'm the partner mentioned in this post.
For context cuz I feel like my questions will sound stupid without it—I have already in the past run backups off a hard drive in VWii using USBloader but I had a stroke since then and while I remember p much everything else, I couldn't remember jacksh*t about this other than maybe a USB conflict existed. I couldn't even remember why I used to have a hdd connected to my wii u other than it maybe could of been related to that, so I thank y'all a ton for these answers. Super helpful.

But I do have a few more questions. I remember now that instead of a Y cable, I used a usb hub. I only did because a guy at the hardware store told me I shouldn't use a Y cables for reasons similar to what Shadow#1 mentioned. He gave me a usb hub and told me to use it instead, but idk why. Does that safely generate power? Would it be a viable alternative to an externally powered hdd if I, for whatever reason, would want an alternative to that? Just asking to keep my options open.

Last thing and I feel like an ass asking this but what is an externally powered hdd? like I know what that is and have seen it before but I just cannot for the life of me comprehend how to search for that on Amazon. I struggle to tell apart listings from more common plug and play ones. It's a stroke thing so I apologize for my stupidity on that

 

[Videomanman87]

Well a hub *could* do it if it has a external power supply (a AC power adapter plugged into the hub itself). Otherwise it is drawing from the WiiU which will mean more of a power draw and something you don't want.

A externally powered HDD is one that has a AC power adapter to get its power from that rather than the computer via USB (usually called bus powered). These days they are harder to find, but still exist. In short, if it doesn't include a AC power adapter, don't buy it. Some have a AC port but then you need to find a AC adapter with the right power rating to make it work.

Personally, I would get a AC powered external enclosure, buy a HDD and put it in the enclosure. If the HDD ever goes bad you can replace it easily or pull the drive out and put it in a computer or another enclosure if needed.

What you want to search for is "hdd with power supply" I found some at best buy and Newegg. I also found a enclosure for 3.5 drives on Amazon with a power supply.

Also, it is hard to keep track of all of this even without physical limitations.