Hardware Is There a Way to Safely Unmount USB Devices Before You Power Off Your Wii?

[PhoenixPlayzz]

Hey guys,
So pretty much after playing a bit of games off of my external 1tb HDD, that I've noticed my external drive screeching upon power off on my wii (or just losing a power source in general)

And this seems to only randomly happen once in a while.

To prolong my HDD and to prevent failure, I was wondering if there was a specific way or option on the wii to SAFELY unmount USB devices, I've done a search for the feature to no avail.

Thanks in advance!

 

[GreyWolf]

It should be the same as for game saves. As long as you're not actively writing to the drive it won't get corrupted.

Screeching is very bad. Back up your files ASAP.

 

[PhoenixPlayzz]

It should be the same as for game saves. As long as you're not actively writing to the drive it won't get corrupted.

Screeching is very bad. Back up your files ASAP.

Thanks for the help.

Just a quick question, what do you mean by "same for the game saves"?

And I assume that nothing would be writing to the HDD if the HDD was being read for playing an iso?

Thanks

 

[GreyWolf]

Normally a game console tells you not to turn the console off or disconnect the power while you're saving a game. That's usually what's getting written to the HDD if a game is writing anything at all so it's still good advice to follow.

Gamecube loaders generally save games to the same drive the iso is on so it would be writing then. (maybe 1-2 seconds?)

 

[PhoenixPlayzz]

Normally a game console tells you not to turn the console off or disconnect the power while you're saving a game. That's usually what's getting written to the HDD if a game is writing anything at all so it's still good advice to follow.

Gamecube loaders generally save games to the same drive the iso is on so it would be writing then. (maybe 1-2 seconds?)

Wow. I didn't know that games saves were associated to the iso... Wii and GameCube.

Does this mean if I ever play gc isos that the game save will just save on the hdd? Because I believe my wii games have gamesaves on my wii save memory and don't write anything to the external hdd other than if your copying a disc.

(I use wbfs format BTW.... Fat and ntfs doesn't work for me)

 

[RandomMan25XX]

wbfs is an outdated format, get a new loader and switch your drive to fat32, also any saves will be saved to your wii but gamecube saves go to your memory card or sd card depending on which to have set, when formatting to fat32 to avoid further corruption of your drive you'll need to find a tool to write all zeroes to your hard drive to wipe any ever existing formats and partitions to ensure a proper format after this is done, i've done this and my hard drive hasn't corrupted since

 

[Linkuei]

The best way to play backups:

Format your drive to NTFS (no size limitations)
Convert your .ISO to .WBFS with ISO to WBFS
Transfer with Wii Backup Manager
Load the games without problem with USBLOADER

 

[GreyWolf]

The best way to play backups:

Format your drive to NTFS (no size limitations)
Convert your .ISO to .WBFS with ISO to WBFS
Transfer with Wii Backup Manager
Load the games without problem with USBLOADER

No, that's not the best way at all. There is no need to use WBFS files on an NTFS partition and it's safer to skip NTFS altogether and just use FAT32/WBFS files.

 

[Cyan]

it's all the same, just user preference.
some prefer NTFS, others prefer Ext2/3/4.
The most commonly used format remains FAT32 because a lot (if not all) homebrew from all consoles are compatible with that format. it's sometime even required (like Gamecube loaders).

The only worst format from all is WBFS, because it doesn't have error correction, and the tools used to put games on it usually corrupt old games already present on the drive.


The "safe unmount" option you have in computers is only for the write mode.
If it's in read mode, you can shutdown the drive without issues.
but in write mode, some drives are not writing the data imediatly but storing the data in the cache and writing to the drive few seconds later.
Using safe eject on computers force the cache to be written to hdd, and also check if a program is not still accessing the drive.

There's no safe eject on Wii.
just be sure you are not writing to disc while the console shutdowns.

for information about gamecube and DM/Nintendont, the save is written to HDD only when you exit the loader (not when playing).
if you play, and cut the power, you'll lose your progress.
if you play, and choose to shutdown or exit the loader (with the button combo), it will automatically save and exit or shutdown the console when the save is safely written to the hdd.

 

[PhoenixPlayzz]

it's all the same, just user preference.
some prefer NTFS, others prefer Ext2/3/4.
The most commonly used format remains FAT32 because a lot (if not all) homebrew from all consoles are compatible with that format. it's sometime even required (like Gamecube loaders).

The only worst format from all is WBFS, because it doesn't have error correction, and the tools used to put games on it usually corrupt old games already present on the drive.


The "safe unmount" option you have in computers is only for the write mode.
If it's in read mode, you can shutdown the drive without issues.
but in write mode, some drives are not writing the data imediatly but storing the data in the cache and writing to the drive few seconds later.
Using safe eject on computers force the cache to be written to hdd, and also check if a program is not still accessing the drive.

There's no safe eject on Wii.
just be sure you are not writing to disc while the console shutdowns.

for information about gamecube and DM/Nintendont, the save is written to HDD only when you exit the loader (not when playing).
if you play, and cut the power, you'll lose your progress.
if you play, and choose to shutdown or exit the loader (with the button combo), it will automatically save and exit or shutdown the console when the save is safely written to the hdd.

Thanks a lot dude! That was really helpful!
I guess I'll eventually try to get FAT32 to work. I've tried it before, but none of the games read or wrote. I think there was corruption exporting the files for the drive.
Anyway, thanks again!

 

[GreyWolf]

it's all the same, just user preference.
for information about gamecube and DM/Nintendont, the save is written to HDD only when you exit the loader (not when playing).
if you play, and cut the power, you'll lose your progress.
if you play, and choose to shutdown or exit the loader (with the button combo), it will automatically save and exit or shutdown the console when the save is safely written to the hdd.

Are you sure about that? I'm fairly certain at least Nintendont writes to the save file when the game writes to the EXI bus.

 

[Cyan]

I think nintendont reserves memory for memorycard, all the memory card data is kept in RAM, and written when you exit.
You can see it if you have USBGecko, it's saving memory card before shutting down/exiting.
Unless it changed ? but when I was active in the nintendont thread and early development, that's how it worked.

 

[GerbilSoft]

I think nintendont reserves memory for memorycard, all the memory card data is kept in RAM, and written when you exit.
You can see it if you have USBGecko, it's saving memory card before shutting down/exiting.
Unless it changed ? but when I was active in the nintendont thread and early development, that's how it worked.

https://github.com/FIX94/Nintendont/blob/e19e86faa90aa6ec7a00827391824535de7236d3/kernel/main.c#L302

Looks like it saves the memory card image around 3 seconds after the last write.