Hacking Can you prepare a WiiU parition without using the WiiU itself?

[Lord0Link]

I'm in the process of using wupinstaller.
and I have a external HDD somewhat ready, meaning that its split into 3 partitions.

1. for my Wii games (USB Loader GX)
2. for my GameCube games (Nintendon't)
3. was to future proof for WiiU games

so now my question is, can I format my 3rd partition to what the WiiU uses on my PC because I'm afraid if I use the Wii U's format option that it will format my entire HDD, including the 3 partitions that I mentioned.

 

[JimmyZ]

While I want this too, I'm happy with USB for Wii U and SD for Wii&GC

 

[KiiWii]

No.

We cannot format a partition for Wii u on PC, the file system hasn't been reversed yet and there are no drivers to read it.

The Wii u will format the lot not just the one partition.

 

[ubergeek77]

There's precious little documentation on the Wii U filesystem, but I'm sure it's almost certain at this point that it doesn't follow a standard partitioning scheme. The Wii U doesn't have a concept of multiple partitions, at least not in the sense that we're most familiar with (gpt,mbr). What this means for you is that you will be unable to format the third partition for use on the Wii U; the Wii U will see a foreign partition table immediately, and attempt to format it.

The only way to "format" a drive without a Wii U is to copy the bytes to another drive directly, using dd. This would be rather pointless, because the second drive would have to be the same exact size (or at least larger), you would only be able to use it on the Wii U you formatted it with originally, and you would not be able to simply copy a blank Wii U filesystem to a third partition and expect it to work. That's just not how things are laid out.

While it's true the Wii U is capable of reading external hard drives using a standard scheme, I believe it's only available on the vWii at the moment. For a standard partition scheme to be used by the Wii U in native mode, there would need to be a complete overhaul of how external USB devices are mounted and formatted, as well as encrypted (since Wii U partitions are encrypted). This would require a LOT of system patches.

So, unfortunately, what you are asking for is not possible at this point in time.

(Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I'd love to be optimistic about this.)

 

[Lord0Link]

then why is the WiiU able te see my 3 partitions in its Wii mode when in USB Loader GX.
also this wil not work, maybe? but I'm going to format a friends empty external HDD with the WiiU and then I'm gonna see and test, if I can split that drive in 2 or 3 partitions whilst formatting the 2nd PART to the Wii USB Loader GX and the 3rd PAR for the Nintendont games and I'll see if it works. but I'm prepared if it doesn't work.

 

[ubergeek77]

then why is the WiiU able te see my 3 partitions in its Wii mode when in USB Loader GX.
also this wil not work, maybe? but I'm going to format a friends empty external HDD with the WiiU and then I'm gonna see and test, if I can split that drive in 2 or 3 partitions whilst formatting the 2nd PART to the Wii USB Loader GX and the 3rd PAR for the Nintendont games and I'll see if it works. but I'm prepared if it doesn't work.

As I've said, vWii mode does not have the system level restriction on the filesystem that can be used for USB devices. Because there is a system level restriction on the Wii U system software (apart from vWii), external USB devices absolutely must be reformatted and encrypted using the Wii U partitioning scheme.

What you are suggesting is no different from what I already explained would not work. You will find that you will not be able to create new partitions on a Wii U formatted drive without completely recreating the partition table, even with Linux tools. The moment you add any additional partitions to a Wii U drive, it is no longer compatible with the Wii U. Plain and simple.

The reverse is also true - a manually copied Wii U partition to an already PC-ready drive will also not work, because it would be using a partition table that the Wii U software simply cannot understand.

In this case, you need to consider the Wii U and vWii mode as two separate systems.

I'm sorry, but what you're asking for is impossible.

See also:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-format-hdd-before-use-with-pc-error.447743/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/rednand-usb-games-use-same-drive-as-vwii.448066/

 

[apachehavok]

There's precious little documentation on the Wii U filesystem, but I'm sure it's almost certain at this point that it doesn't follow a standard partitioning scheme. The Wii U doesn't have a concept of multiple partitions, at least not in the sense that we're most familiar with (gpt,mbr). What this means for you is that you will be unable to format the third partition for use on the Wii U; the Wii U will see a foreign partition table immediately, and attempt to format it.

The only way to "format" a drive without a Wii U is to copy the bytes to another drive directly, using dd. This would be rather pointless, because the second drive would have to be the same exact size (or at least larger), you would only be able to use it on the Wii U you formatted it with originally, and you would not be able to simply copy a blank Wii U filesystem to a third partition and expect it to work. That's just not how things are laid out.

While it's true the Wii U is capable of reading external hard drives using a standard scheme, I believe it's only available on the vWii at the moment. For a standard partition scheme to be used by the Wii U in native mode, there would need to be a complete overhaul of how external USB devices are mounted and formatted, as well as encrypted (since Wii U partitions are encrypted). This would require a LOT of system patches.

So, unfortunately, what you are asking for is not possible at this point in time.

(Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I'd love to be optimistic about this.)

Unfortunately incorrect. Using cloning software will not work. The serial of the drive gets registered to the WiiU. Only way to clone a wiiU drive is to let the WiiU software do it.