Emulation Gaming Hardware Homebrew Homebrew app Emulator Wii (Homebrew) How can I access my USB Drive without formatting?

ClockworkRMX · Feb 6, 2023

It's been while since I played with my modded Wii and lately I've been getting into homebrew scene again but I have one issue. I purchased a Toshiba portable hard drive 500GB hard drive a while back and did all the formatting through Wii WBFS Manager. It went well and it worked perfectly on "USB loader GX" "Wiiflow" and "CFG USB loader." I remember I want to check out some of the files inside the USB drive but Windows wouldn't allow to access the drive and that I needed to format before accessing it. I formatted it but I'm not sure if it formatted to FAT32 or NTFS but it worked but I had to reinstall every single game I had. Now today, I want to access it again to put in and play GameCube games but Windows, yet again, doesn't allow me to unless I format it again. I really DO NOT want to go through the hassle to reinstall every single game I have.

So what can I do fix this? I have Wii Backup Manager and it does show all the games I have install that hard drive but It doesn't allow to access through Windows. I was thinking, can I backup my games through "Wii backup manager" or is there another option? What option is best to format so I can play both Wii and Gamecube games? What can I do so that I never have to deal with this issue?

Thanks in advance!

JuanMena · Feb 6, 2023

Maybe I'm reading things wrong, perhaps not understanding, but Windows shouldn't have any problems accessing FAT32 and NTFS formatted drives.

Now, Windows will have a problem if your drive is formatted to WBFS.

Now, WBFS and ISO files will work with both NTFS and FAT32 formatted drives.

That's where I'm failing to understand. Perhaps you formatted your drive to WBFS in which case might be useless as AFAIK WBFS formatted drives are prone to kill themselves when trying to go back to NTFS and FAT32.

Double check your drive isn't WBFS format. If it's not, you shouldn't have any problems accessing the files in Windows.

ClockworkRMX · Feb 6, 2023

JuanBaNaNa said:
Maybe I'm reading things wrong, perhaps not understanding, but Windows shouldn't have any problems accessing FAT32 and NTFS formatted drives.

Now, Windows will have a problem if your drive is formatted to WBFS.

Now, WBFS and ISO files will work with both NTFS and FAT32 formatted drives.

That's where I'm failing to understand. Perhaps you formatted your drive to WBFS in which case might be useless as AFAIK WBFS formatted drives are prone to kill themselves when trying to go back to NTFS and FAT32.

Double check your drive isn't WBFS format. If it's not, you shouldn't have any problems accessing the files in Windows.

Yes, I did format it to WBFS through the application "Wii WBFS Manager" if I recall. I have to use Wii Backup Manager so that I can access the USB drive, otherwise, windows still won't allow me to access it. How can I fix this? Can I be able to backup my games through "Wii Backup Manager" and then put those games back in the drive once it has been formatted?

JuanMena · Feb 6, 2023

As I said (AND 100% BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE) Windows doesn't get along with WBFS.

WBFS Format (in drives not as file) shouldn't be used at all, AT ALL. Because depending on Drive brand it will kill it when trying to go back to FAT32 or NTFS.

Last time I used WBFS MANAGER was in 2010, so I'm not very familiar with the software. Probably there is an option to backup files from WBFS drive to your computer (which is what you want, right?) but trying to go back to NTFS or Fat32 from WBFS is at your own risk.

Gamecube isos will work with Fat32 but won't with WBFS drives (not sure, probably USB LOADER has the option to read iso from WBFS drive?)
So can't tell on that.

ClockworkRMX · Feb 6, 2023

JuanBaNaNa said:
As I said (AND 100% BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE) Windows doesn't get along with WBFS.

WBFS Format (in drives not as file) shouldn't be used at all, AT ALL. Because depending on Drive brand it will kill it when trying to go back to FAT32 or NTFS.

Last time I used WBFS MANAGER was in 2010, so I'm not very familiar with the software. Probably there is an option to backup files from WBFS drive to your computer (which is what you want, right?) but trying to go back to NTFS or Fat32 from WBFS is at your own risk.

Gamecube isos will work with Fat32 but won't with WBFS drives (not sure, probably USB LOADER has the option to read iso from WBFS drive?)
So can't tell on that.

Meh, at this point I'll take risk. It's a Toshiba Portable USB drive I bought back in the early 2010s and I don't have any issues with it. So, how do I backup my games? I have "Wii Backup Manager" and I want to back up all my games with the hassle of reinstalling every single game I have. And like I previously said, what is the best format so I can play both Wii and GameCube games? Should I use GParted to format the drive? Do bare with me on this since it's been while.

JuanMena · Feb 6, 2023

Like I said, I don't know if WBFS manager allows you to backup from drive to pc.

And like I also said, WBFS and ISO files works with both FAT32 and NTFS (this last one at some extent AFAIK)

So, it's your choice.

If "it's been a while" you might've as well finished formatting and backing up already instead of trying to automate the process.

realg123 · Feb 6, 2023

I haven't done this in a while but you can backup your games off of the WBFS into is but it will be slow. From what I remember you had to right click on the game then select export.

Once you backed up you can then format the drive to fat32.

You can always test with a USB stick

ClockworkRMX · Feb 12, 2023

JuanBaNaNa said:
Like I said, I don't know if WBFS manager allows you to backup from drive to pc.

And like I also said, WBFS and ISO files works with both FAT32 and NTFS (this last one at some extent AFAIK)

So, it's your choice.

If "it's been a while" you might've as well finished formatting and backing up already instead of trying to automate the process.

Week update: So I manage to get most my games off of the USB drive and formatted to FAT32 to play GameCube games and I hadn't had a single problem! No corruptions on the USB drive so far so let's see how it works!

JuanMena · Feb 12, 2023

ClockworkRMX said:
Week update: So I manage to get most my games off of the USB drive and formatted to FAT32 to play GameCube games and I hadn't had a single problem! No corruptions on the USB drive so far so let's see how it works!

Cool! Glad you made it work.

Emulation Gaming Hardware Homebrew Homebrew app Emulator Wii (Homebrew) How can I access my USB Drive without formatting?

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