Exercise in futility time: DVD drive replacement...

[SolidSonicTH]

Do they make replacement Wii drives that can read DVD-ROM/-R discs? I saw a couple of replacements on Amazon but I don't know if they have this functionality.

This is a completely arbitrary and unnecessary venture but a long time ago I rebuilt my Wii (simply to change it from white to black because there isn't a way to transfer data between two Wiis). When I did I accidentally put the black Wii's drive into the shell, meaning I lost my DVD read capability. This never really bugged me but thinking about it now I sort of want to see if I can restore this lost piece of my Wii's functionality.

If I can't then whatever (I almost never use my Wii's drive anymore and when I do it still reads games just fine) but thought it might be worth asking.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Are there really third-party drives and drive boards? Don't think so. If you get a refurbished drive (board), you'll have to make sure it isn't one of the newer D3-2 boards that removed the ability to read standard DVDs with debug commands.

But I don't really get the problem:

When I did I accidentally put the black Wii's drive into the shell, meaning I lost my DVD read capability.

What is stopping you from swapping the drives for the older model? Just must have both. Did you throw the other drive away?

 

[SolidSonicTH]

Are there really third-party drives and drive boards? Don't think so. If you get a refurbished drive (board), you'll have to make sure it isn't one of the newer D3-2 boards that removed the ability to read standard DVDs with debug commands.

But I don't really get the problem:

What is stopping you from swapping the drives for the older model? Just must have both. Did you throw the other drive away?

This was a LONG time ago (years and years ago). I sold off the Wii I swapped shortly afterwards and didn't realize I lost the DVD read capability until the aftermath.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

There are mod chips that are like drive emulators there is a ribbon cable that leads to an SD card slot. As far as just buying an old drive.... I would just spend the money on a cheap USB hard drive. Mod your Wii and take advantage of the faster load times and all that.

Edit: Also note that what you are wanting to try may not be possible.... There are subtle differences in hardware at different times. I had a day one launch Wii. after like 5 years of abuse the BT module died. I ordered one online, incompatible. Ordered a couple of more none of them worked.... Might have worked if I had ordered a JP one?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

This was a LONG time ago (years and years ago). I sold off the Wii I swapped shortly afterwards and didn't realize I lost the DVD read capability until the aftermath.

This explains the problem. I think the drive(boards) are fully interchangeable (the Mini RVL-201 has a different drive connector and a completely different drive that will not read DVD-R/ROM anyway).
There is even a (very bad) video somewhere showing an older drive working in an RVL-101 "Family Edition" loading a GameCube disc.

There are mod chips that are like drive emulators there is a ribbon cable that leads to an SD card slot. As far as just buying an old drive.... I would just spend the money on a cheap USB hard drive. Mod your Wii and take advantage of the faster load times and all that.

Sundriver or a full WODE (Jukebox) are cool things but hard to get. This shows drives are interchangeable. WODE works on any Wii but the Mini, no matter what drive board. This quote here suggests the Wii is already softmodded.

(I almost never use my Wii's drive anymore and when I do it still reads games just fine)

Edit: Also note that what you are wanting to try may not be possible.... There are subtle differences in hardware at different times. I had a day one launch Wii. after like 5 years of abuse the BT module died. I ordered one online, incompatible. Ordered a couple of more none of them worked.... Might have worked if I had ordered a JP one?

No idea about this. Perhaps a different problem than the BT module. Older Nintendo products - to my knowledge - didn't have their components married to each other (Wii U drive board is tied to the motherboard).

 

[SolidSonicTH]

UPDATE: I bought a Wii today at a garage sale (for $2, no less) and it has a DVD drive that will let me play standard DVDs! So I just need to cut it over to my black Wii and we're good to go.

I also bought another Wii last weekend that I hacked but it was too new (which I suspected when I couldn't load BootMii on boot2, which was possible with the Wii I picked up today and what made me think it probably had the correct drive) so that was unsuccessful.

 

[XFlak]

It would be a lot easier to transfer game saves and mii's and whatever other content u care about to the new wii rather than swapping drives. But if you're doing this for some hardware hackery fun then by all means I wish you nothing but success.

 

[SolidSonicTH]

It would be a lot easier to transfer game saves and mii's and whatever other content u care about to the new wii rather than swapping drives. But if you're doing this for some hardware hackery fun then by all mean I wish you nothing but success.

I still want a black Wii. It matches my other consoles that are on the same shelving unit.