Hacking Modernizing my USB loader

[Gamemaster1379]

Alright, so I have been out of the scene for quite a while and I am wanting to get myself up to date on my USB loading setup. Any help would be appreciated with the following series of questions.

Currently I am using an old WD 500 GB External HDD for an old build of USB Loader GX. Of this setup, I have a 400 GB partition of NTFS (Used for other storage) and a 100 GB Partition of WBFS (The only filesystem that worked at the time). However, I understand that now it is possible to load Wii games under the NTFS partition. Personally, I would like to get all of my games under one partition on my external, but before I go about doing so, I have some questions

1. Is there a better loader to use than USB Loader GX as far as compatability or reliability goes, or are they all approximately the same? If so, I would rather stay with what I am familiar with.
2. Is there any advantage to keeping WBFS over NTFS? Perhaps a significant read speed advantage or something similar?
3. If there is not, would it be safe to assume that I could back up my WBFS games by using WBFS Manager 3.0, transferring the ISOs to my internal, reformatting the HDD, and then re-transferring all the ISOs back to my NTFS partition?
4. If the above is true, does it matter that my WBFS paritions only have the game partition (therefore the "garbage data" would have to be recreated. I assume that's something along the lines of Trucha bugs?) I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to this.
5. If I am going to go to an NTFS partition, what will I need to install as far as IOSes go? I am running a severely outdated version of WBFS as well as just about everything else. I'd assume I'm likely 7-14 months behind on all of this, so assume I"m severely outdated. (To give an idea, I remember when Waninkoko was still a big guy on the scene for updates and the like).
6. What is a suggested program to merge out my NTFS and [soon to be) formatted] WBFS partition? Would the default manager in Windows 7 suffice?
7. I hear that Gamecube game loading is now a possibility. I am severely "out of the loop" when it comes to this, and at the time I was around, it was thought as impossible. What [c]IOSes, mIOSes, or other applications would I need [if any] to rip Gamecube games to my external and use them on USBLGX or another loader?
8.Are there any complications I should be aware of with GCN loading?


Thank you in advance to any who help out!

 

[Lacius]

1. Is there a better loader to use than USB Loader GX as far as compatability or reliability goes, or are they all approximately the same? If so, I would rather stay with what I am familiar with.

No, none that I know of. I personally prefer Configurable USB Loader, but it doesn't really matter as long as you're using the latest version of whichever loader.

2. Is there any advantage to keeping WBFS over NTFS? Perhaps a significant read speed advantage or something similar?

No, none that I know of.

3. If there is not, would it be safe to assume that I could back up my WBFS games by using WBFS Manager 3.0, transferring the ISOs to my internal, reformatting the HDD, and then re-transferring all the ISOs back to my NTFS partition?

Yes, but you could also just transfer the .wbfs files to your NTSF partition, delete the WBFS partition, and then extend the NTFS partition.

4. If the above is true, does it matter that my WBFS paritions only have the game partition (therefore the "garbage data" would have to be recreated. I assume that's something along the lines of Trucha bugs?) I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to this.

No, it's called "garbage data" for a reason. Since it is recommended you use .wbfs files instead of .iso files in order to save space, it most certainly doesn't matter.

5. If I am going to go to an NTFS partition, what will I need to install as far as IOSes go? I am running a severely outdated version of WBFS as well as just about everything else. I'd assume I'm likely 7-14 months behind on all of this, so assume I"m severely outdated. (To give an idea, I remember when Waninkoko was still a big guy on the scene for updates and the like).

Use ModMii to install the recommended cIOS files. 249d2x56 and 250d2x57 should cover it.

6. What is a suggested program to merge out my NTFS and [soon to be) formatted] WBFS partition? Would the default manager in Windows 7 suffice?

That should work out fine. Other programs are usually recommended when dealing with FAT32 partitions because the default manager doesn't allow FAT32 partitions to be so big. FAT32 is the recommended primary partition if you plan on loading applications, virtual NANDs, and whatnot from the actual USB drive, but if not, then NTFS is fine.

7. I hear that Gamecube game loading is now a possibility. I am severely "out of the loop" when it comes to this, and at the time I was around, it was thought as impossible. What [c]IOSes, mIOSes, or other applications would I need [if any] to rip Gamecube games to my external and use them on USBLGX or another loader?

If you have an older disc drive, you can use a cMIOS to load GameCube disc backups. You can also use DML to load GameCube backups from your SD card. See ModMii for details.

8.Are there any complications I should be aware of with GCN loading?

DML isn't 100%, and I believe there's a compatibility list out there somewhere. You also cannot load GameCube backups from your USB drive, as far as I know.

 

[Gamemaster1379]

Thank you Lacius, I very much appreciate taking the time to reply to this; it is all extremely helpful. And as far as GCN loading goes, I have a relatively old system. I know it was before the LU64 (I believe it was?) series that caught up a lot of people way back when. This system should be among the older ones with just about every exploitable feature known to the homebrew community.

As far as GCN ISOs go, I suppose I'll find to get a bigger SD(HC) card to store ISOs on if there's no means of USB loading. Oh well, that is not big loss.

 

[manateeman]

Thank you Lacius, I very much appreciate taking the time to reply to this; it is all extremely helpful. And as far as GCN loading goes, I have a relatively old system. I know it was before the LU64 (I believe it was?) series that caught up a lot of people way back when. This system should be among the older ones with just about every exploitable feature known to the homebrew community.

As far as GCN ISOs go, I suppose I'll find to get a bigger SD(HC) card to store ISOs on if there's no means of USB loading. Oh well, that is not big loss.

before you invest in a big sd card, you should be aware that using usb loader gx (and probably every other mainstream loader out there) you can still install the gamecube games on the usb, and then select them to be written to the sd. what this means is, as long as your sd card is 2gb or larger, you can just switch out the games it stores depending on what you want to play, and it's a very simple and easy process. be aware the more read/write cycles the flash memory commits (especially write) the more modules die. this degradation over time is typical on all flash storage. however this takes many cycles to really effect the storage space and this method could save you some cash

EDIT: also keep in mind dios mios is on the horizon, and offers the same compatability as DML

 

[Gamemaster1379]

Thank you Lacius, I very much appreciate taking the time to reply to this; it is all extremely helpful. And as far as GCN loading goes, I have a relatively old system. I know it was before the LU64 (I believe it was?) series that caught up a lot of people way back when. This system should be among the older ones with just about every exploitable feature known to the homebrew community.

As far as GCN ISOs go, I suppose I'll find to get a bigger SD(HC) card to store ISOs on if there's no means of USB loading. Oh well, that is not big loss.

before you invest in a big sd card, you should be aware that using usb loader gx (and probably every other mainstream loader out there) you can still install the gamecube games on the usb, and then select them to be written to the sd. what this means is, as long as your sd card is 2gb or larger, you can just switch out the games it stores depending on what you want to play, and it's a very simple and easy process. be aware the more read/write cycles the flash memory commits (especially write) the more modules die. this degradation over time is typical on all flash storage. however this takes many cycles to really effect the storage space and this method could save you some cash

EDIT: also keep in mind dios mios is on the horizon, and offers the same compatability as DML

Understood, I'll definitely keep that in mind. And I don't need to buy a new SD card. I have an 8 GB MicroSDHC from my old android phone (I upgraded to a 32 GB), so I have an 8 GB MicroSDHC to spare which is definitely more than enough for GCN ISOs. However, the excessive writing does come off to a concern, even if it is something that I'll be feeling in the long run.

What program does the switching of the GCN ISOs? DML, correct? If so, does it handle similarly to the method that the Wii handles SD card channels? By that, I mean, if one selects a game from their SD Card, it transfers that to "temp" memory on the Wii and will remain there until a new item is chosen? Or does it transfer the game every single time a game is chosen, even if it is the same game consecutively?

 

[smf]

2. Is there any advantage to keeping WBFS over NTFS? Perhaps a significant read speed advantage or something similar?
3. If there is not, would it be safe to assume that I could back up my WBFS games by using WBFS Manager 3.0, transferring the ISOs to my internal, reformatting the HDD, and then re-transferring all the ISOs back to my NTFS partition?

You may be better off going to FAT32. There is a conversion tool for going from WBFS to FAT32 which doesn't require you to move all the games off and then back on again.
http://gbatemp.net/topic/291320-wbfs2fatpy/

FAT32 has a few advantages on the Wii, so unless you have a real reason to go to NTFS then it's worth considering.
You can always convert to NTFS later if you really need it http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php

 

[manateeman]

What program does the switching of the GCN ISOs? DML, correct? If so, does it handle similarly to the method that the Wii handles SD card channels? By that, I mean, if one selects a game from their SD Card, it transfers that to "temp" memory on the Wii and will remain there until a new item is chosen? Or does it transfer the game every single time a game is chosen, even if it is the same game consecutively?

the backup loader (not dml, afaik) copies the game from the drive to the sd, and the file stays there until you overwrite it with another game or delete it using a file manager. you can choose multiple games to store without deleting others, but this is limited by the sd storage capacity

 

[Gamemaster1379]

Alright, sounds good. an 8 GB card should be able to store two or three games at least, so it ought to be fine.