Hacking Hard Drive Format?

[TiMeBoMb4u2]

For years, I have used the FAT32+WBFS hard drive formatting schema. However, recently, I have seen that WBFS is no longer recommended.

With that said... Let's say I'm starting from scratch, and I have an unformatted 1TB, or 2TB, external drive. I would like to use the drive on both Wii and vWii.

• What is now the recommended hard drive format? FAT32? NTFS?
• If I want to use Nintendont, does it still require the first partition to be FAT32?
• What is the correct folder structure for FAT32/NTFS formatted drives?
• Will my existing loaders (WiiFlow, USBLoader GX, Configurable USB Loader, etc) see my new drive automatically?

Sorry, for all the n00b questions, and I'm guessing most of my questions are answered in a "sticky" I've overlooked, somewhere. But as previously stated, I've been happily using my FAT32+WBFS HDD for years. I'm just worried my existing HDD is failing, and I would like to be prepared for a clean start.

 

[GreyWolf]

Most homebrew needs FAT32, Gamecube needs FAT32 and Wii titles work on FAT32, so....

 

[Mr. Epic]

It depends on what you'll use the drive for. If you're using it to replace using an SD card or to play GC games, you need to be FAT32. If you're playing Wii games, I've seen that some people get it to work with NTFS, but I personally have only had success using WBFS.

 

[Cyan]

Do not format your drive. use wbfs2fat (look in my signature) to convert the partition to FAT32 and keep all your games
You'll get FAT32+FAT32, The new partition will work with USBLoaders. You might just need to refresh the partition in the loader's settings.

Nintendont doesn't need FAT32 to be the first partition, but it can't read from the second if there is one.
ex.
NTFS+FAT32 = FAT32 is used
FAT32+NTFS = FAT32 is used
FAT32+FAT32 = the first partition is used, not the second.
it loads the first primary FAT32 (and now exFAT?) partition.

You can use NTFS if you want, but most (if not all) consoles (PS2, PS3, wii, GC, DS, 3DS, etc.) are compatible with FAT32. It's like an universal format as it's widely used and easy to port.
If you don't need that drive to store your PC files > 4GB, then FAT32 is the best choice in my opinion for consoles.

Oh, and Keep MBR format instead of GPT. users reported issues with GPT and games on the second partition.

Edit:
another thing:
FAT32+WBFS is working just fine and you can keep it like that. It works on Wii and vWii without issues.
The only issue is that WBFS partition are not stable, it can corrupt old games when adding new ones. if you have backups/originals, that's not an issues. just put them back on the drive if they crashes at launch or later in the game.