Hacking Wii U upgrade 8GB emmc to 32GB emmc

guyman70718 · Dec 6, 2020

Hello, I was wondering if it is possible to upgrade the emmc of a Wii U basic/8gb model to have 32gb (or more) internal storage and using a hardmod to reflash the original nand contents. According to http://wiiubrew.org/wiki/Hardware/EMMC_NAND, the 32gb wiis use a Samsung KLMBG4GE4A-A001 or a Toshiba THGBM4G8D4GBAIE. Both can be bought on AliExpress for less than $20. My only concern is that the Toshiba and Samsung chips are BGA169, while the 8GB chip is BGA153. Though it seems that both BGA169 and BGA153 are the same, with the difference being that the BGA169 has 16 NC pins scattered around the edges.

Has anyone been able to accomplish this? Is it possible? I know it is possible, and very easy on the nintendo switch due to the fact that Hekate can be booted to reflash the nand and the emmc is socketed, but how difficult would this be to accomplish on a 8gb wii? I would love to have 32, 64, or even 128gb on my 8gb wii, and I do want to practice reballing

rmorris003 · Dec 6, 2020

Why not just use an external hdd and you can hack it if you wish for the data? I just got a Wii U that was preloaded with CBHC and love it using a usb hdd but I do have the deluxe 32gb version.

SAIYAN48 · Dec 6, 2020

A Motherboard replacement would be easier; BGA chips are soldered and difficult to upgrade.

guyman70718 · Dec 6, 2020

rmorris003 said:
Why not just use an external hdd and you can hack it if you wish for the data? I just got a Wii U that was preloaded with CBHC and love it using a usb hdd but I do have the deluxe 32gb version.

Yeah I was considering a USB but I plan to bring my Wii U places (i guess I probably wont be taking it many places until corona calms down) and I want to be able to play a few games (2-3) without having to worry about loosing a USB. With just Wind Waker HD installed, 8gb is already full.

XAIXER said:
A Motherboard replacement would be easier; BGA chips are soldered and difficult to upgrade.

Yeah, I know but I plan to do practice on a extra switch first then move to my wii u. I have the equipment to do the replacement.

Also, my wii u and gamepad are JPN region so I would need to find a 32gb JPN motherboard or a new gamepad.

emcintosh · Dec 7, 2020

If you are only going to use it for a few games and for short periods, you can use a USB flash drive as an external hard disk - you can get ones that only stick out of the port enough to be able to remove them with a fingernail.

Lostbhoy · Dec 7, 2020

Have you looked at this.....

https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-hdd-installation-guide.556388/

The Real Jdbye · Dec 7, 2020

guyman70718 said:
Hello, I was wondering if it is possible to upgrade the emmc of a Wii U basic/8gb model to have 32gb (or more) internal storage and using a hardmod to reflash the original nand contents. According to http://wiiubrew.org/wiki/Hardware/EMMC_NAND, the 32gb wiis use a Samsung KLMBG4GE4A-A001 or a Toshiba THGBM4G8D4GBAIE. Both can be bought on AliExpress for less than $20. My only concern is that the Toshiba and Samsung chips are BGA169, while the 8GB chip is BGA153. Though it seems that both BGA169 and BGA153 are the same, with the difference being that the BGA169 has 16 NC pins scattered around the edges.

Has anyone been able to accomplish this? Is it possible? I know it is possible, and very easy on the nintendo switch due to the fact that Hekate can be booted to reflash the nand and the emmc is socketed, but how difficult would this be to accomplish on a 8gb wii? I would love to have 32, 64, or even 128gb on my 8gb wii, and I do want to practice reballing

I don't think it's worth the hassle. 32GB doesn't get you very far, Zelda BotW already takes up 13-14GB before you add the DLC.

guyman70718 · Dec 8, 2020

Lostbhoy said:
Have you looked at this.....

https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-hdd-installation-guide.556388/

Thats actually pretty cool, I may end up doing that mod to have all my games without any external devices.

Lumstar · Dec 8, 2020

It is what it is. Heck Wii U had launch games that didn't fit on the 8GB model.

depaul · Dec 9, 2020

Just buy an SD card with a USB adapter : they are cheap and small and work slightly faster than an HDD.

guyman70718 · Dec 10, 2020

I just bought a 256gb Dramless SSD for like $26 and it is like 5x faster than the eMMC so, yeah this mod is cool to think about but since you can solder a usb ssd that is faster it probably is not worth the time.

depaul · Dec 10, 2020

Yes that's better solution.
Replacing the emmc is risky with all the encryption stuff Nintendo put on the WiiU.
Also it isn't guaranteed to be the same quality as the original one.

Hacking Wii U upgrade 8GB emmc to 32GB emmc

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