How to copy external HD?

[bmd2k1]

I have an original Wii that was modded by somebody else years ago and uses an external HD for storing/running games.

I'd like to make a backup copy of it -- but when I plug it into my Win10 system -- Windows recognizes the physical drive - but doesn't recognize any partitions/data/etc on it.

(Currently, the HD drive is working just fine currently in my modded Wii.)

How do I go about making a backup copy of this external HD -- as it's getting bit older and I want to safeguard everything on it.

Thanks!

 

[XFlak]

Drive is most likely formatted as wbfs, you can use software like WI backup manager to load the drive and see all the games on it, then copy/transfer them

It's also worth noting that wii softmodding has come a long way since the days wbfs partitions were recommended. U can now resoftmod using modmii or other recommended guides to update your mods and format your drive as fat32 instead of wbfs, which can still hold wii games but also GC games, apps, and other files not to mention be read natively by your PC

 

[r1vver]

There is also a utility to convert the WBFS file system to FAT32 without losing content. Called wbfs2fat.
But it's (probably) will be better to backup content with help of Wii Backup Manager and then reformat HDD according to modern best practices. As XFlak said.

 

[bmd2k1]

Drive is most likely formatted as wbfs, you can use software like WI backup manager to load the drive and see all the games on it, then copy/transfer them

It's also worth noting that wii softmodding has come a long way since the days wbfs partitions were recommended. U can now resoftmod using modmii or other recommended guides to update your mods and format your drive as fat32 instead of wbfs, which can still hold wii games but also GC games, apps, and other files not to mention be read natively by your PC

Thanks! Do you have a reliable source for the Wii backup manager s/w that runs on Win10?

As a follow up to this -- using Wii backup manager will I be able to just copy the data to my Windows system?

Given the current MOD of my Wii....will the backup drive also have to be WBFS or can I simply partition it as FAT32 and have this be immediately usable for my current Wii setup? (I've got ZERO experience with modding, other than using the system as is.)

Thanks!

 

[CoolMe]

Thanks! Do you have a reliable source for the Wii backup manager s/w that runs on Win10?

WiiBackupManager runs on Win10.

As a follow up to this -- using Wii backup manager will I be able to just copy the data to my Windows system?

Yes.

Given the current MOD of my Wii....will the backup drive also have to be WBFS or can I simply partition it as FAT32 and have this be immediately usable for my current Wii setup? (I've got ZERO experience with modding, other than using the system as is.)

You need to copy your games first before formatting the hdd, obviously you need to have plenty of storage space in your pc to store games temporarily, then format it as FAT32 32kb clusters after you copied everything.

 

[XFlak]

ModMii can provide u with WBM software and directions on updating your softmods and hard drive as fat32, but u should backup your games from the wbfs drive before formatting it as fat32

 

[Ouaz]

Thanks! Do you have a reliable source for the Wii backup manager s/w that runs on Win10?

This is the official site: http://www.wiibackupmanager.co.uk/downloads.html (build 78). I used this one a couple of times on W7, no problem.

There's a slightly updated version here: https://wiidatabase.de/wii-backup-manager-v0-4-6-r79/ (Just cosmetic changes)

Given the current MOD of my Wii....will the backup drive also have to be WBFS or can I simply partition it as FAT32 and have this be immediately usable for my current Wii setup?

It depends the loader you use to launch games (if your Wii has been modded years ago, maybe you have an old apps, that can read only WBFS, hence the HDD being formatted to WBFS).

For example, Neogamma can only read WBFS.
UsbLoaderGX can read FAT32 and NTFS.
It's better to format to FAT32, for the best compatibility with recent loader versions.

https://github.com/wiidev/usbloadergx/releases

Tell us what's your setup (loader, launching app from SD card or not, etc) on your modded Wii.

(I've got ZERO experience with modding, other than using the system as is.)

Yeah, it's a bit obscure at first, it requires a bit of reading, but it's rather simple to set things actually. ^^