Hacking Devolution Speculation thread

[SifJar]

It is doubtful devolution will support NTFS as libntfs is GPL and tueidj has said devolution will be closed source and won't use any GPL code, I think.

 

[wiismodrome]

It is doubtful devolution will support NTFS as libntfs is GPL and tueidj has said devolution will be closed source and won't use an GPL code, I think.

Unfortunate if true.... NTFS is much better all around, IMO. Plus that would mean that I would have to reformat and spend countless hours moving hundreds of gigabytes of data.

 

[WiiUBricker]

It is doubtful devolution will support NTFS as libntfs is GPL and tueidj has said devolution will be closed source and won't use an GPL code, I think.

Unfortunate if true.... NTFS is much better all around, IMO. Plus that would mean that I would have to reformat and spend countless hours moving hundreds of gigabytes of data.

Unless he writes his own NTFS lib.

 

[DeadlyFoez]

I can't speak for the man, but I honestly don't see why he would bother supporting NTFS when fat32 works perfectly fine. So my speculation is that NTFS support will not happen.

 

[JoostinOnline]

It is doubtful devolution will support NTFS as libntfs is GPL and tueidj has said devolution will be closed source and won't use an GPL code, I think.

Unfortunate if true.... NTFS is much better all around, IMO.

That is not at all true if you are using your HDD only for a Wii.

 

[SifJar]

I can't speak for the man, but I honestly don't see why he would bother supporting NTFS when fat32 works perfectly fine. So my speculation is that NTFS support will not happen.

Indeed. I know little/nothing of file systems, but if one works, I don't see why he would bother with another, especially if the only existing library for it is GPL and he wants to keep his app closed source. A lot of effort to write a new library just to support an extra file system.

 

[PsyBlade]

Unfortunate if true.... NTFS is much better all around, IMO. Plus that would mean that I would have to reformat and spend countless hours moving hundreds of gigabytes of data.

No, there are tools that can convert a filesystem into a different one while retaining the files in it.
You would probably need to make sure that no single file is >4GiB but other than that it should not be much of a problem.

 

[Maxternal]

It is possible that nintendo produces new wiis with different drive types
eg a old one that still reads GC (because the still have much stock or production capacity)
and a new one that does not read GC and is cheaper to produce (but they don't have enough production capacity yet)

Yeah, I guess that would make sense.
I can confirm that at least SOME of the no-gc Wiis just spit them out because my neighbor has one and wanted to try some Gamecube games out. Unfortunately, when we got over to his house with some of my gamecube stuff there wasn't anywhere to plug them in and it just spit the disks out.
I was kinda surprised to read someone reporting actually seeing one of these new Wiis accept a GC disk but what you've stated is a good possible explanation of this phenomena.

 

[Resident Stevil]

I'm holding out hope that the new DIOS MIOS will come with Classic Controller support. I really don't want to have to switch to another app in order to play GC games, I like everything contained in my USB Loader GX.

 

[Anon10W1z]

It is doubtful devolution will support NTFS as libntfs is GPL and tueidj has said devolution will be closed source and won't use an GPL code, I think.

Unfortunate if true.... NTFS is much better all around, IMO. Plus that would mean that I would have to reformat and spend countless hours moving hundreds of gigabytes of data.

Just use a NTFS to FAT32 conversion utility. Not that hard, really?

 

[Maxternal]

It is doubtful devolution will support NTFS as libntfs is GPL and tueidj has said devolution will be closed source and won't use an GPL code, I think.

Unfortunate if true.... NTFS is much better all around, IMO. Plus that would mean that I would have to reformat and spend countless hours moving hundreds of gigabytes of data.

Just use a NTFS to FAT32 conversion utility. Not that hard, really?

COOL, There's a NTFS to FAT32 utility?
I'd only heard of FAT32 to NTFS utilities. I'll have to google this.

 

[crwys]

It is doubtful devolution will support NTFS as libntfs is GPL and tueidj has said devolution will be closed source and won't use an GPL code, I think.

Unfortunate if true.... NTFS is much better all around, IMO. Plus that would mean that I would have to reformat and spend countless hours moving hundreds of gigabytes of data.

Just use a NTFS to FAT32 conversion utility. Not that hard, really?

It really isn't that hard.
A while back I used Acronis Disk Director 10. Doesn't work on Windows 7 though.
Now I use Paragon Hard Disk Manager. Both were able to convert NTFS to Fat32 and Fat32 to NTFS leaving all files intact. I've used it a couple times on both programs.

 

[mauifrog]

Not hard to convert ntfs to fat32, very easy. Also acronis disc director as autoboot disc, so you can use it on any os if you like. But, if you like ntfs with your wii, that probably means you have some large files that can not be on fat32, so you can't convert it with those large files.

 

[Anon10W1z]

It is doubtful devolution will support NTFS as libntfs is GPL and tueidj has said devolution will be closed source and won't use an GPL code, I think.

Unfortunate if true.... NTFS is much better all around, IMO. Plus that would mean that I would have to reformat and spend countless hours moving hundreds of gigabytes of data.

Just use a NTFS to FAT32 conversion utility. Not that hard, really?

COOL, There's a NTFS to FAT32 utility?
I'd only heard of FAT32 to NTFS utilities. I'll have to google this.

Well you kinda have to pay for them if your volume size is big...you might prove me wrong, IDK...

 

[wiismodrome]

... But, if you like ntfs with your wii, that probably means you have some large files that can not be on fat32, so you can't convert it with those large files.

Yes, apart from being a superior file system, one major reason for using NTFS is that it doesn't require special treatment for files > 4 GB. This means no worrying about splitting up dual layer games, archiving DVD images, etc.... Five years ago I might have recommended FAT32, but not now. IMO, any new Wii development ought to support NTFS.

As for Classic Controller support, it looks like Devolution is the only hope, as crediar has indicated little interest in providing it, plus he's stated that there's barely any space left when running in GC mode for adding extra code (no MEM2).

 

[tueidj]

IMO, any new Wii development ought to support NTFS.

That's ridiculous given that it's not supported by any official wii software, HBC or exploit loaders. It is far from being a "superior file system", ext2+ has a much better design with the bonus of it not being Microsoft's proprietary invention.
Regardless, my 400 lines of FAT16/32 code do the job just fine and I don't see the need to add anything else.

 

[wiismodrome]

That's ridiculous given that it's not supported by any official wii software, HBC or exploit loaders. It is far from being a "superior file system", ext2+ has a much better design with the bonus of it not being Microsoft's proprietary invention.
Regardless, my 400 lines of FAT16/32 code do the job just fine and I don't see the need to add anything else.

I did preface my statement with 'IMO'. People are free to disagree with my opinion.

I use FAT32 for Wii applications, but see no good reason to use FAT32 for data storage, given its various limitations. However, there are many reasons why NTFS is superior other than how it handles > 4 GB files and large drives. It offers better data security. Large drives come pre-formatted with NTFS. Plus it is the current standard file system for any modern Windows computer. For most people buying a new external hard drive, reverting to FAT32 means more work and facing unnecessary limitations. NTFS is also supported by the major USB loaders as well as media players like WiiMC. Programs which fail to support NTFS serve to alienate a good portion of their potential user base.

 

[tueidj]

Security permissions are irrelevant for any drives that can be physically accessed (especially portable drives) - you can just plug the drive into a PC which ignores the permissions.
My western digital 2.5TB drive came formatted as one giant FAT32 partition (as do all WD Elements drives). They even provide a utility to reformat it back to that state: http://support.wdc.c...&sid=34&lang=en
Most devices capable of playing media from USB (BluRay/DVD players) don't support NTFS. PS3s don't support NTFS. Tablet devices (by default for android) don't support NTFS. It is simply not a suitable filesystem for embedded devices to handle.

 

[crwys]

Security permissions are irrelevant for any drives that can be physically accessed (especially portable drives) - you can just plug the drive into a PC which ignores the permissions.
My western digital 2.5TB drive came formatted as one giant FAT32 partition (as do all WD Elements drives). They even provide a utility to reformat it back to that state: http://support.wdc.c...&sid=34&lang=en
Most devices capable of playing media from USB (BluRay/DVD players) don't support NTFS. PS3s don't support NTFS. Tablet devices (by default for android) don't support NTFS. It is simply not a suitable filesystem for embedded devices to handle.

I completely agree. I keep all my drives as Fat32, for stability and usability on other systems. Linux, android, mac, etc.

 

[obcd]

+1 on that. Besides the fat 32 4Gig file limit, I see absolutely no benefit in using ntfs. It's just M$ trying to push trough their own format. Don't they have their own music format as well? Everyone uses MP3, but not M$, oh no.
I am no M$ hater, Sony isn't much better. They have their own Memory stick types (which are more expensive)
En, when everyone started to produce a VHS VCR, Sony made a Betamax version. All Movie stores needed 2 copies of every movie.

But, it's off topic. The time wasted here to discuss NTFS can be used better to convert your drive to fat32.
If you choose for ntfs when you started with your harddisk, try to admit you made a mistake, repartition it and get over it.
It will give you the opportunity to remove the stuff you never use as well, and all files will be nicely defragmented.