This is about WBFS & Fat32 partitioning, with the use of usb3.x flash drives & micro sdhc/xc cards in usb2 adapters, ONLY.
The reported issues with using wbfs partitioning, was never fully understood. Corrupted files & fat, seems were the main problems.
I simply wasn't satisfied with just using a usb hdd with fat32/32k. Also, ntfs totally failed for me at almost every point, but at least I did manage to get the wii game titles to show in USBL-GX, & that's as far is it went.
Exfat ? No signs of any success (for me).
As SD/micro sdhc/xc work flawlessly in front of the wii. I've successfully used the 512gb Samsung evo+ (listed below) without any problems with GC games & HBC apps, but settled on using the 256gb Samsung evo+ (listed below).
I personally think that 1Tb or 2Tb micro sdxc cards will work in front of the wii (64gb, 256gb & 512gb are flawless).
No other front of wii usage with SD card will be in this topic (oops, there's 1 or 2 other slight mentions, but towards the end).
I'll start with the usb flash drives :
Infinative 32gb usb2
Sandisk 128gb ultra shift usb3.x
Sandisk 256gb ultra fit usb3.x
A mix of 4gb, 8gb & 16gb (older usb2 types)
Micro sdhc & sdxc cards :
Emtec 32gb
Sandisk ultra 32gb
Sandisk ultra 64gb
Samsung evo+ 64gb
Samsung evo+ 256gb
Samsung evo+ 512gb
Gigastone 64gb
My laptop :
Let's just say it's old (2008 Emachines-727).
Only has usb2 ports.
USA/NTSC wii (ios nand) - (I got ripped off by the seller & this is my new direction).
2x Seagate 2tb usb hdd's (not identical - both with fat32 32k clusters).
1x Verbatim (Samsung) 320gb usb hdd (died soon after testing begun with fat32) R.I.P. - p.o.s.
Also purchased "micro sdhc/xc to usb2 adapters" that cater for larger storage cards (64gb+). These are more specific.
I did find that larger capacity micro sdxc cards failed to initialise & function correctly using other/older adapters.
Apps :
ModMii & the included apps (Sept. 2022 version).
USB Loader GX Ver.3.0 R1272 V6 (included with ModMii). Haven't got around to using the latest version.
Config USB Loader Ver.70 Mod R78.11 (included with ModMii) - This had a better auto ios setting/game detection.
Diskpart (windows) - Needed to unlock/clean flash drives & sdhc/xc cards, to unlock potentials.
Wii Backup Mananger vers 0.4.5 build 78 (x64)
WiiBaFu 1.1 (to rip & convert to wbfs & other file types). Also splits large files.
Fat32 GUI Formatter. Has cluster settings, but do not fully trust it !!!
HPUSBDisk. When/if fat32 gui failed (no cluster settings).
WBFS partition :
Using both, usb flash drives & micro sdhc/xc cards (my hardware above).
I done a shit-load of reading (obviously not all - way too much) on the corruption/bug reports - bla bla bla.
Usb hdd with fat32 32k clusters is the most recommended.
I made no attempts with SSD.
I was (kind of) satisfied with the wbfs negative corruption & bug reports, but still decided to sum it all up.
It's obvious the main problem with wbfs partition is the FAT.
Problems seem to start when game files were being deleted & added in dribs & drabs.
Used WBFS method (flash drives & micro sdhc/xc in usb2 adapter):
Using WBM, I formatted to wbfs partition (standard game limits - Not virtual), used WBM to dump wii games from usb hdd to flash drives & micro sdhc/xc cards. The only difference was that I did the transfers in one go. I haven't deleted nor added any games (game-saves were/are progressively saving). I also filled them almost to the brim, just leaving between 400mb - 800mb of free space.
It's been well over 3 months since testing/playing games started. No problems encountered, at all. I know I loathed some of the games & really wanted to just remove them & simply add other games. I don't like playing wii games much. I'm the old arcade type - Joystick & 2 buttons. Xevious & Battle Zone were my 2 faves.
My testing conclusions - I admit that I know Jack about wii apps &/or coding. ModMii served me well (cheers XFlak).
Still to this date, wbfs format is mostly unknown. Wiimms (& others) tried & found many problems. I did it the old-fashioned way. Trial & error (tons of patience).
Negative reports related to when/after adding & deleting games. I never used WBFS manager. Thanks for the heads-up tswntk.
The only drawback is if you want to add &/or delete games, is to re-do the whole complete process, but in one go (again). I know it's a pain in the ass, but so far, it seems to work perfectly (for me). Dump all the games in one-hit & leave some empty space for game-saves (where applicable) to be added. I also haven't directly encountered any another bugs (yet !). Could be that all the bugs are derived from the unstable FAT. I never checked the number of game-saves going directly to the SD card (front of wii), but it seems save/ini data is also written to the usb.
Now, if only if it was that simple with fat32 (flash drives & sdhc/xc cards).
Fat32 :
The reports stated that many earlier, smaller capacity flash drives (usb2) had more success playing wii games, but it seems that they had to be smaller than 16gb. These flash drives mostly had the "flip bit" set as "fixed" (not "removable").
Now days, it's not an option. The newer flash drives/sdxc cards are set to "removable" only.
Considered using BootIt (& a few other apps), but there was no compatibility with usb3.x flash drives. Keep in mind that the flip bit was my attempt for the wii compatibility (not windows). I also glanced into the possibility of re-wiring with usb to sata hdd interfaces & then back to usb out. Yeah, I had high hopes.
Strangely enough & originally, I had more success with micro sdhc/xc cards with compatible usb2 adapters (fat32 - 32k). These are also set to "removable". I got around 30% of the games to work (USBL-GX). Some slightly better results with Config usb.
The search for better fat32 partiton settings begun. It had to resemble/match wbfs specs. First attempts were with higher cluster settings, but it seems the smaller the cluster, the better. But .... :
512 bytes = Failed to even format with fat32. I wanted this to work the most. This would have come the closest to wbfs & hdd standards (in a nut-shell). I figured it would fail, but still had to try it.
1024 bytes = The storage size capacity was halved in windows. Was going to partition it into 2, just never got around to doing it. Doubt that I ever will.
Although, I had the inkling to multi-partition into many smaller sizes to suit 1k clusters, & then re-join the partitions to sustain some of the full storage size. Just too much work to prepare a storage device.
2048 bytes = Interesting !
Storage capacity size was correct. Dumped 8 wii games (windows) & all played perfectly (flash drive), but totally failed with extra 90+ games added afterwards, & that totally screwed it (kind of like adding games using wbfs). The 1st 8 games I dumped worked flawlessly. Then, no games worked. Did use GX & Config usb, to no avail. Just black-screened in GX & fully froze in config usb. The biggest downer came when transferring games to the flash drive. It took 18+hrs to transfer 255gb to the flash drive. It struggled at less than 4mb/s - ZZZzzzzz - I did use a direct usb-hdd to flash drive transfer.
I re-did the same with micro sdxc with usb2 adapter, & the transfer speeds were 4x faster (around 16mb/s).
I used the sandisk 256gb flash drive, with 2048 (2k) clusters (or, so I thought), transferred (using windows) wii games to the brim, but a weird thing happened. It totally confused GX & Config usb (just the once). GX just wouldn't show any wii games, but config usb did (but fully froze at game selections). GX unticked the wii games from the selections. Only GC games & (emu)nand selections were ticked.
I did re-tick it & got some games to play with config usb & less with GX. How & why would GX's wii games un/ticked effect counfig usb loads ?
Over the next few weeks, playability got heaps better (I made no changes - games-saves only). I noticed that just because GX black-screens, it doesn't always indicate a "crash/fail". I walked away & came back 5-10min later & most games started on their own. Some games just need more time to load. Other times, a simple re-boot did the trick, & loading with config usb helped GX loads upon re-boot. Stay sane & calm
The games that did fail with GX, config usb worked. Only a few problematic games failed on both (Metroid stuff & a few others). At least I got an error stated with usb config "hd num sector doesn't match" (bad rip), but I could exit back to HBC. Also, some games take longer to load with config usb. I guess I was lucky that I walked away & gave it a chance to load. Waiting for games to load ... A thing of the past ?
The unusual thing is that the loading got a little faster over time of use & re-use. Played a few games (over & over) & it was faster by around 30%. Maybe the SAVED games factors helped to speed up initialization/boot (?).
On the game-save subject - I noticed that games saved in GX didn't match game-saves in config usb (& visa versa).
I had GX detect a saved game (super fruit fall), but there was never a game save there (ever). Went to load this unknown saved game, but GX just hung with a humm/buzz. Tried with config usb & it played fine, but never presented a saved game (at all).
So, it seems that GX & config usb save games in different ways. Why can't they match saved games ? I gather one saves to SD & the other to usb. Auto-save games would save directly to within the game.
And yet another config usb notification (fully failed with GX) just popped-up "There is no Lost in Blue Shipwrecked file in the wii system memory". This software requires 9 open blocks in your wii system memory. Create a new file ?". Followed the instructions & worked upon reboot. GX still failed, but worked fine with config usb.
Fully (99%) successful with 64gb (& above) sdxc in usb2 adapter. Both config usb & GX.
Then I tried using an older usb2 (M2F) "L" adapter plug with 256gb usb3.x. Even more games came to life. But not all.
This indicated a crap, connection compatibility between usb3.x hardware to usb2 ports. At least the usb2 adapter plug had better pin connection then a direct usb3.x into a usb2 port (on the wii). I will need to confirm that the transfer speeds have also improved = No, they didn't.
Wii is usb2 & using usb3.x flash drives fail in weird ways. Unpredictable/unstable (as CoolMe once told me).
I did notice when using my 2tb Segate/s (usb3) that I had to nudge the usb plug to be detected in my laptop. Adding that usb adapter helped to form a better stable connection. And that also proved that it helped with usb3.x flash drives & wii.
Another weird thing. I noticed that the clusters somehow formatted to 32k (from a 2k format setting). Not sure what's happened there, but I formatted it again to 2k clusters & the same thing happened (without adding any files & using fat32 gui formatter). Then I tried the 4k cluster setting & the same thing (formatted to 32k clusters).
The 1st tests I done, I think the clusters were 32k (that weird thing above). I never would have thought.
Started testing with a proper 2k clusters. GX had more fails, but config usb came to the rescue. Also, config usb sometimes took around 5min to actually load games. But it did load & play.
Thought I'd try 512 bytes again (call me persistent). Yeah, it failed. Then I tried 1024 bytes (again) & the same above story with halved storage capacity. And then I re-did the 2k clusters, & this time the 2k clusters were at face value.
Filled it with wii games, checked the clusters again & again & it still showed 2k clusters.
Now to test it (how boring)...... Almost as good as wbfs. I got 85% of the games to play with GX. GX is my preferred, but usb config saves the the day when GX fails (99% of the time).
Went back to "direct" usb3.x flash drive with the wii (no adapters). The first game I tried "where the wild things are", failed with both GX & usb config (no "Y" cable). Put the "Y" cable back & it worked directly in GX. Removed the "Y" cable & did it again directly, but this time, it worked in GX (didn't need usb config). All other games played well. Didn't see that coming, but as previously stated, flash drives with the wii are unpredictable.
The other strange thing was - Using "Y" cable made the flash drive "much" hotter (to the touch). Not overly hot, but noticeable.
I'd safely say that the pins are too short, not well aligned &/or the voltage-drop across the Y cable differs (it shouldn't). Contact points seem aligned, but I had 2 minor eye surgeries & I may have missed the finer details. I doubt it.
In any case, the "Y" cable is only around 20cm long & shouldn't effect voltage-drops. Thus, it does improve playability.
Apologies if most of my notes are all-over-the-place, but I was trying to record notes & rolling with the continuous testing outcomes & life's crap. Newer information was always added.
Fully aware that usb3.x & usb2 pinouts are not identical. Worn ports &/or plugs, don't help. I'd always rather use an adapter to try & save usb ports. Easier & cheaper to replace adapters/Y cables, than usb ports.
Some of the failed games could also be due to bad rips/dumps.
Ripped with ripit (or something like that), using HT-LG dvd-rom, directly from original disks (4hr-8hr process). Back in the day (2010), I hard-modded our wii (Wasabi DX) to play the back-ups (dvd-r & dual-layer) to save the originals. Now I have 2 sets of back-ups & the originals. With 4 daughters bickering over who plays the wii, damage was inevitable.
4096 bytes, ......
I'm losing track of which cluster sizes I've used & re-used. From memory, this also failed, but I think it was due to that sneaky cluster change (32k). I have no explanation why this happens (fat32 gui formatter). Worth keeping an eye on this !!
Misc :
Using the recommended/default 32k cluster in fat32 failed mostly with my usb3.x flash drives (directly). Micro sdhc/xc cards with usb2 adapter had much better success. Comparing the 2, definitely proves that the approach & usb hardware are major contributors.
Transfer speeds with usb3.x flash drives (with fat32) are pathetic with my usb2 ports. NTFS is almost 4x faster (but failed playing games).
Didn't take much notice of the wbfs format transfer speeds, but it seemed faster. Same amount of games using both fat32 & wbfs, & the wbfs won by 4-5hrs.
Both usb flash drives were sandisk 256gb ultra fit (I have 3 of them).
Compare that with samsung evo+ sdxc's (64gb, 256gb & 512gb in usb2 adapter) sdxc cards ... transfer speeds were 4x greater.
The sandisk 256gb ultra fit flash drive was faultless with wbfs (playing wii games). But using any size sdhc/xc, was the way to go for better transfer speeds & slightly faster game loads.
Kind of puts my testing opinions of bad usb3.x pin contact assumptions to shame, but in the fat32 cases, it did make that difference.
The advantage using the sandisk 256gb ultra fit flash drive with a "Y" usb2 cable, was noticeable (fat32 2k). More games played by switching from GX to config usb.
I also got several "the remote has stopped responding" notifications, but the games ended-up working fine. Begining to think that it's better to have the nunchucks disconnected from the start.
I did delete/remove all usb drivers to try & improve fat32 transfer speeds (waste of time). There's an app that can delete them all in one go.
If done through windows, then you would be restarting after each removal. I think it was "usbdeview", but it didn't help to solve my transfer speeds. Not the app's fault.
All-around success with micro sdhc/xc in usb2 adapter. 100% with wbfs (if done as stated above).
I know many will doubt my test results, but if you do get the time, then give it a go. You'll be pleasantly surprised. WBFS & fat32 with 2k clusters. WBFS has a faster game loading time.
I still think the flip bit (fixed) would have helped with fat32 32k clusters (to a greater level).
In any case, I would prefer fat32 with 32k clusters to be more successful. It's more user friendly & stable (wii/hdd's). But darn slow transfer rates with my usb2 ports.
Wbfs is obscure & not many apps to work with, but it does work where fat32 32k trials failed. 2k clusters work heaps better.
Taking into account, all the different hardware, app settings & outdated laptop, testing will always continue. I don't expect to get long-life from my flash drives, but the micro sdhc/xc cards should out-live the flash drives. I'm looking forward to getting some 1Tb/2Tb sdxc & flash drives. Prices dictate.
My smaller capacity flash drive/s are failing with certain systems, but work fine with others.
As WBFS was Waninkoko's work-in-progress, it would have been great if it was improved/perfected. He was on a good thing, & I'm sure he would have perfected it, at least for himself. I'm sure others were involved with that work-in-progress & I don't wish to get into whatever made things turn bitter.
I found WBFS to be very functional with usb3.x flash drives (directly) & definitely flawless with micro sdhc/xc, than using fat32 32k.
I hope WBFS apps support never ends.
SSDs ?? One day I'll get around to them. Nah, maybe not.
The better features of hdd's & ssd's is that they state better/longer "lastability".
Flash drives & sdhc/xc cards have a shorter life-span. I prefer sdhc/xc (in usb2 adapters) to discrete usb3.x flash drives. They are faster, more compatible, & I'd safely say they would also last longer than flash drives. I don't believe the other reports.
With flash drives, it's not so much about usage wear (cycles), but more about time passing (even when not in use). They seem to fail after a few years, regardless. In other words, it's pot-luck. Other brands may have a better outcome.
One thing I'd like to try is a "usb3.x flash drive to SD adapter" (note the wording). I have seen some (in my searches), & man, they look so fugly, but they were home-made. Just want to compare things in reverse, but it's really messy. Ribbon cable & flimsy connector joints, & would look like an abortion sticking out of the wii.
Funny how the wii's SD cards work perfectly fine with fat32 32k clusters. Think about it.
I'll never hear the end of people telling me that the wii's usb ports were designed for wii add-ons (guitar hero, drums etc). But consider how far that's come (thanks to some clever people).
Don't bother with the "flip bit" apps. Finding any newer flash drive controller info is crazy. Requesting it from manufacturers is a waist of time. Their responses will state that they will only produce/program to only MS requests.
Oh, & forget about the apps that fool/trick windows into the flip bit modes. It only works in windows. Wouldn't effect outcome with the wii.
Summary :
- Fat32 with 2k clusters, usb3.x flash drives & micro sdhc'xc in usb2 adapter = Very good outcome, but better with sdhc/xc, & much faster transfer speeds, loading & compatibility.
Flash drives = Slightly less compatibility, but whatever failed with GX, worked with config usb. Slower transfer speeds.
Just remember to keep checking if "fat32 gui formatter" correctly did the clusters to 2k. Don't trust it !
If anybody has trouble formatting to fat32 with 2k clusters - I stumbled on this but, I tried the 512 cluster (fail), then tried the 1k cluster (fail), & then the 2k cluster (worked). Trying to format to 2k clusters from higher cluster formats, will/may fail & you will most likely end-up with 32k clusters.
Simply use chkdsk to verify clusters, & be patient when loading games to play. It can sometimes take around 5min with some games, but it does get a little faster. Same goes for config usb. The lates GX should/may have better outcome (?).
Possibly the 4k clusters may work fine. The first time I did this, it failed (big time). I didn't stumble on the cluster fail with fat32 gui formatter, till after this. I didn't try to re-do it.
Also, try to use eg. "Y" usb2 cable or the like (usb2 adapters). Seems usb3.x just doesn't make a proper contact (data/power pins). Adapters do seem to help. Or, do they ?
- WBFS partition with both usb3.x flash drives & micro sdhc/xc with usb2 adapter = Great compatibility with both. All (98%) games played directly with GX (not the new version), the others worked fine with config usb. Bad rips failed almost instantly.
I was actually blown away. Like WOW !!! Faster game loading than fat32 2k clusters. The 2% game fails are most likely due to bad rips. Have to dig-up my originals & see if they're damaged/scratched.
Just follow the above steps (WBFS).
Deleting games should be fine, but adding starts the "crap" theory. Make a good "want to play list" that'll keep you happy for a long while. Then, when you want to overhaul some titles, do it in one hit, with the method stated above.
I have actually found many positive reports from lots of folks, that wbfs was a much better format to use compared to fat32 32k clusters. Chances are, they just left games on there for a long while, without adding &/or deleting.
As always, all acknowledgments & thanks go the past & present wonderful people that put in the efforts to better our sanities. A special thanks to Xflak & his band of friends for making things so much easier & abolishing frothing from the mouth, the nervous nail biting & scratching dandruff off our heads
Apologies if some/or all of the above has already been documented/mentioned in any form or manner. I haven't been here for several weeks. I hope I didn't step on anyone's toes.
My ideas/methods, testing & tinkering will continue.
