Hacking How to use a 4TB disk with USB loaders?

v1nce

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Hello all,

I just get a Samsung M3 4TB USB 3.0 portable disk and attempt to use it with my Wii to play my backups GC and Wii.
Previously, I was using a WD My Passport Ultra 2TB USB 3.0 portable disk without any problem (1x FAT32 partition).
But now I am discovering the hard way what is GPT, the equivalent of MBR for disk bigger than 2TB, and the compatibility problems with the USB loaders...
Because I think only USB loader GX is able to handle GPT, I gave it a try (I stick on USB CFG loader for a while).

On my GPT disk, I created one 2TB FAT32 partition (how to create a bigger one?) --> USB loader GX was happy!
I then created a second partition 2TB NTFS --> USB loader GX wasn't happy anymore and even did not see the 1st FAT32 partition...

Is there a way to use fully the 4TB of my disk with USB loader GX? (or any other USB loader)

Thanx.
 

GreyWolf

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USB Loader GX only has MBR support. I'm surprised it worked at all.

That said, you can try making the first partition at least one byte less than 2GB. This is actually a mathematical issue, not a bug.
 

v1nce

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USB Loader GX only has MBR support. I'm surprised it worked at all.

That said, you can try making the first partition at least one byte less than 2GB. This is actually a mathematical issue, not a bug.

According to the official changelog, USB Loader GX supports GPT since 2.0 (it is 3.0 now):
https://github.com/Homebrews/USB-Loader-GX/blob/master/wiki/Changelog.wiki
This information is confirmed by Cyan here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loader-gx.149922/page-742

Several guys report being successfully using their 4TB disk as a single FAT32 partition.
Any idea how to do?
 

GreyWolf

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According to the official changelog, USB Loader GX supports GPT since 2.0 (it is 3.0 now):
https://github.com/Homebrews/USB-Loader-GX/blob/master/wiki/Changelog.wiki
This information is confirmed by Cyan here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loader-gx.149922/page-742

Several guys report being successfully using their 4TB disk as a single FAT32 partition.
Any idea how to do?

Huh, didn't know that. That isn't USB Loader GX's repository, though. It's at https://sourceforge.net/projects/usbloadergx/

(FAT32/4TB) - Try 64k clusters maybe?
 
Last edited by GreyWolf,

v1nce

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Unfortunatelly I cannot overpass the 2TB limit for FAT32 partition, whatever the clusters size... any idea?
 

pepobr

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I 'll try to explain to you how to make the USBLoader GX recognize your hard disk. first, format the hard drive creating a single partition NTFS (GPT option), then create a folder called wbfs in HD root (it is important to have a single partition). copy the nintendo wii games into this folder. run the loader and see if the games appear in the list. from what I read about it, the USBLoader GX does not recognize HD in GPT option if it contains more than one partition, so you need to delete any secret partition on HD. I believe it is not possible to use GPT option for Nintendo Wii and Gamecube (ntfs and fat32), sorry.
I have an 5TB and, following these steps, I got the loader recognize my HD, but it does not find any game in the folder. if I format the drive using the MBR option, the loader works, but the maximum partition is 2GB :(
 
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v1nce

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I 'll try to explain to you how to make the USBLoader GX recognize your hard disk. first, format the hard drive creating a single partition NTFS (GPT option), then create a folder called wbfs in HD root

Your advise works with Wii backups, but not with GameCube backups. Play GC backups requires partition #1 of the disk in FAT32, and the maximum size of a FAT32 partition seems to be 2TB.

So, how to partition 100% of my 4TB USB disk to play GC And Wii backups?
 

pepobr

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v1nce

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use this program to format 100% your hard drive on FAT32 http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.exe
then use the wii backup manager for copying games to HD (it will split the files larger than 4GB automatically) http://www.wiibackupmanager.co.uk/latest.html
for gamecube create a folder called games and follow the instructions on nintendont discussion

Error message of this program when I try to format 4TB partition:
"FSCTL_ALLOW_EXTENDED_DASD_IO OK
IOCTL_DISK_GET_PARTITION_INFO failed, trying IOCTL_DISK_GET_INFO_EX
IOCTL_DISK_GET_PARTITION_INFO_EX ok, GPTMode=1
This drive is too big for FAT32 - max 2TB supported
GetLastError()=1
Incorect function."

Anyone already formated successfully 4TB partition with guiformat.exe?
 

pepobr

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ok, that's hard to explain but your hard drive can not be formatted fully using the MBR table. I have the same problem with my HD (5TB), only with the GPT table I can format it (he is 100% formatted in NTFS), but nintendont does not seem to accept the GPT table, sorry. use the EaseUS Partition Master (it´s free), use the GPT table to format 100% in NTFS, then use the wii backup manager usually to copy games. test with the latest version of usbloader gx (it´s compatible with GPT table).
 

v1nce

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ok, that's hard to explain but your hard drive can not be formatted fully using the MBR table. I have the same problem with my HD (5TB), only with the GPT table I can format it (he is 100% formatted in NTFS), but nintendont does not seem to accept the GPT table, sorry. use the EaseUS Partition Master (it´s free), use the GPT table to format 100% in NTFS, then use the wii backup manager usually to copy games. test with the latest version of usbloader gx (it´s compatible with GPT table).

Nintendont does not refuse your disk because of GPT but the lack of FAT32.
On my disk, nintendont works like a charm with GPT and FAT32 partition (2TB maximum unfortunatelly).
Even USB Loader GX works great! But my disk is only 50% formated...
In GPT mode, when I add another 2TB partition (NTFS this time) to the existing 2TB FAT32 partition, ULGX does not start anymore...

Is there anyone who already successfully used a disk strictly bigger than 2TB for play GC and Wii backups?
 

pepobr

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mine too. this is exactly my problem, when I create more than one partition on GPT i get a fatal error on usbloader gx, when I create a single ntfs partition the loader works, but does not show my wii games :(
please, try creating only one partition (100% formated ntfs) and tell me if the gx usbloader recognizes the wii games
 

element6

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Clutz450

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This is the 4TB drive that I have (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-my-b...lack/1766068.p?id=1219063238074&skuId=1766068) and I was able to format the entire thing to FAT32 with 64k clusters. I had a discussion with @Cyan about why I can format my entire drive to FAT32 and he thinks it's because it may be a 4K drive. In case you were curious you can read one of his replies to me in the spoiler below.

I thought MBR partition had a limit of 32bit addressable sector (2TB)
Maybe it works because it's a 4K drive, the sectors contains more bytes.

some technical info here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/quick-newbie-questions-here.155449/page-127#post-4759621

I think with a 4K/sector drive and 64K/cluster you could make up to 16TB FAT32 partition

But anyway, I used EaseUS Partition Master to format my entire drive and it works without issues for Wii, GameCube, WiiWare and Virtual Console games. Maybe you can try giving that drive a try.
 
Last edited by Clutz450, , Reason: Meant to say 64k clusters. Not 32k.

Futurdreamz

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does the wii even have 4tb of games?
That's what I want to know. if you were to assume every Wii game was 4GB then you would have a max of 1,000 games. But many games (like Wii Play Motion) are only 500 MB. Gamecube games max at 1.4 GB, but vary a bit.

taking some very rough estimates using romulation and averaging every gig block (all games less thna 1gb, all games 1-2gb, etc) gives me about 2tb for 1,350 games (all US region Wii games on romulation) and about 600gb for 600 Gamecube games (all US region on romulation). And that includes all the games, even ones not worth playing.

So the answer is no, but you can have more than what a 2tb drive can hold.

TBH I don't see the value of keeping 2,000 games for the sole purpose of having them. pretty much all the games I want to play nearly fits on a 64gb SD card, and the 128GB card I ordered will have me set for good. I deleted the games that I was able to purchase directly from the eShop - I have no interest in ripping images for games I can easily purchase from Nintendo directly. The sole purpose is to have my entire collection in one place with no messing around with disks.
 
Last edited by Futurdreamz,
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Cyan

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In GPT mode, when I add another 2TB partition (NTFS this time) to the existing 2TB FAT32 partition, ULGX does not start anymore...
(a little late for the reply)
Other users reported that issue too. I'll take a look, but I don't have any GPT drives, I can only check the sources to see if there's a bug.
 

element6

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That's what I want to know. if you were to assume every Wii game was 4GB then you would have a max of 1,000 games. But many games (like Wii Play Motion) are only 500 MB. Gamecube games max at 1.4 GB, but vary a bit.

taking some very rough estimates using romulation and averaging every gig block (all games less thna 1gb, all games 1-2gb, etc) gives me about 2tb for 1,350 games (all US region Wii games on romulation) and about 600gb for 600 Gamecube games (all US region on romulation). And that includes all the games, even ones not worth playing.

So the answer is no, but you can have more than what a 2tb drive can hold.

TBH I don't see the value of keeping 2,000 games for the sole purpose of having them. pretty much all the games I want to play nearly fits on a 64gb SD card, and the 128GB card I ordered will have me set for good. I deleted the games that I was able to purchase directly from the eShop - I have no interest in ripping images for games I can easily purchase from Nintendo directly. The sole purpose is to have my entire collection in one place with no messing around with disks.

Untitled.jpg


Non-rough estimate. Those are the complete NTSC-U Wii and GC collections.

Total on disk size = 3.018 TB

When you format a 4TB drive, you end up with less than 3.725 TB of usable space. (4,000,000,000,000 bytes /1024/1024/1024 = 3.725TB)

So yes, if you want everything on one disk, you need a 4TB disk. 3TB won't hold it.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

(a little late for the reply)
Other users reported that issue too. I'll take a look, but I don't have any GPT drives, I can only check the sources to see if there's a bug.

The funny thing is that if you use WBM to turn that second NTFS partition into a WBFS partition it will still boot up without hanging and read from both the FAT32 and WBFS partition. Fails to mount with FAT32 and NTFS partitions though.
 

element6

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This is the 4TB drive that I have (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-my-b...lack/1766068.p?id=1219063238074&skuId=1766068) and I was able to format the entire thing to FAT32 with 32k clusters. I had a discussion with @Cyan about why I can format my entire drive to FAT32 and he thinks it's because it may be a 4K drive. In case you were curious you can read one of his replies to me in the spoiler below.

This is really weird because I have the same exact model drive (bought this exact one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Desktop-External-Drive-WDBFJK0040HBK-NESN/dp/B00E3RH61W) and I am unable to format a single, continuous partition larger than 2TB with FAT32. The Ridgecrop tool gives the same error v1nce got and Easeus won't allow me to make anything larger than 2TB when I specify MBR. If I specify GPT, it still won't let me make the FAT32 partition larger than 2TB. But, at least then I can make 2x2TB partitions.

Do you have a screenshot of your disk with this partition in Easeus or Windows Disk Management (Start->Run->diskmgmt.msc)?
 

Cyan

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The funny thing is that if you use WBM to turn that second NTFS partition into a WBFS partition it will still boot up without hanging and read from both the FAT32 and WBFS partition. Fails to mount with FAT32 and NTFS partitions though.
so it crashes only with NTFS?
It's interesting to see FAT32+WBFS is working fine.
I don't remember is users tested FAT32+FAT32.
Thanks for that info.

If the first GPT partition is NTFS does it work ?
Maybe the issue is the NTFS library, not the loader (I could update the library if there's a new version to support gpt)
 
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