Hardware Questions About Formatting USB HDD& SD Card for Wii

[madman89]

Hi,
I am new to this homebrew thing, and just read the tutorial about installation for homebrew and usbloader,
but I still have some questions about formatting the USB HDD and the SD card

.

I have new 500 GB Western Digital Elements Portable SE "WDBABV5000ABK"
and new 2GB Sandisk SD Card.

I am going to format my USB HDD into three partitions:
First partition XX GB in FAT32 for Homebrew
Second partition 250GB in WBFS for the usb loader
Rest in NTFS for general file storage
Will this pattern works?

And since I don't have a big hard drive, so I don't want to format the FAT32 for 30GB and only end up using 5 or 6GB.
(I saw the example in this guide(GBATemp Link) is 5GB. Will this be enough?)
So what is the suggestion size for the Fat32 partition?(P.S I wouldn't use the Wii for media player or anything else, it is only for gaming)
And what is the allocation unit size for the WBFS or will the WBFS Manger do it for u? Can the WBFS be defragment?

Also what is the format for the 2GB SD card? FAT or FAT32? What allocation unit size should be select? 32K

?
or do I just leave it as what it is already been done?

BTW I just find out that many people have some issues with load up the USB powered HDD(), is that true? My 2.5'' USB HDD hasn't open up, so still can a make exchange to the 1TB Western Digital Elements Desktop"WDBAAU0010HBK"

Hoping someone can help in any way.

Please and thank you for any ideas in advance

.

 

[ddetkowski]

use modmii, use fat32 for both, ENTIRE drives. use wii backup manager, use FAT32 GUI formatter.

 

[madman89]

use modmii, use fat32 for both, ENTIRE drives. use wii backup manager, use FAT32 GUI formatter.

Thank you for your suggestion.
However I don't really like to use the FAT32 for the game,
because you have to split the game for than 4GB(I know there aren't much games over 4GB, but don't like to split the game).
BTW is the FAT32 GUI Fomatter for the SD Card or just format the FAT32 over 32GB, or for both?

 

[ddetkowski]

madman89,
FYI, wii backup manager AUTOMATICALLY SPLITS 4GB+ games, so there are NO issues.
If everyone would just take our advice, try out the items we tell you BEFORE you ASSUME,
you'll see WHY we offer advice here.
I use wii backup manager for ALL of my Wii game transfers from pc to usb /sd, its THE BEST Wii data
utility out.
And, yes, FAT32 is what I use for formatting both SD and USB, wbfs format is dead, and NTFS is only stable if you transfer games only from pc to usb. Transferring from disc directly to the usb while connected to the Wii is not recommended, unstable.(FAT32 is totally stable)
( fat32 is cool for the entire drive, be it 1GB to 4TB in size..)

 

[madman89]

madman89,
FYI, wii backup manager AUTOMATICALLY SPLITS 4GB+ games, so there are NO issues.
If everyone would just take our advice, try out the items we tell you BEFORE you ASSUME,
you'll see WHY we offer advice here.
I use wii backup manager for ALL of my Wii game transfers from pc to usb /sd, its THE BEST Wii data
utility out.
And, yes, FAT32 is what I use for formatting both SD and USB, wbfs format is dead, and NTFS is only stable if you transfer games only from pc to usb. Transferring from disc directly to the usb while connected to the Wii is not recommended, unstable.(FAT32 is totally stable)
( fat32 is cool for the entire drive, be it 1GB to 4TB in size..)

Sound like the FAT32 is better, since i wouldn't have many game in my hard drive at this stage, maybe I should give a go with it.
And any suggestion for the first partition size?

 

[ddetkowski]

Just format the entire drive as one partition, FAT32, using FAT32 GUI Formatter, its very simple to use and the good thing about FAT32 is your PC's recognize it, and all your Wii stuff will be in folders, "apps" for homebrew and applications, "wbfs" for the Wii games, and so on for music, movies, and other data.

 

[madman89]

Just format the entire drive as one partition, FAT32, using FAT32 GUI Formatter, its very simple to use and the good thing about FAT32 is your PC's recognize it, and all your Wii stuff will be in folders, "apps" for homebrew and applications, "wbfs" for the Wii games, and so on for music, movies, and other data.

Thank you

, I really appreciated the commons you made,
and it seems the fat32

are going take over the WBFS Partition

,
so I wil stick to fat32 from now on~

 

[madman89]

What about usb powered HDD, is there any problem with it? I have the wd elements se portable 500 GB(Amazon Link), will that works perfectly?

 

[ddetkowski]

either usb powered or AC outlet, both work fine.
I prefer usb powered, this way, when you turn off the Wii, it also shuts off, not AC outlet kind, though....

 

[zizer]

AC powered, when you turn off the Wii, it also shuts off

 

[madman89]

AC powered, when you turn off the Wii, it also shuts off

The usb powered should be completely turn off, since the wii isn't has much power in itself when shut down.
AC powered should be in standby form when the wii turn off, because the AC cable still plugin. Am I right?

So here is my questions, how long will the AC powered one takes to go into standyby form?
Will the AC powered hdd be turn off if pause my wii for a while?

 

[siliconmessiah]

Will the AC powered hdd be turn off if pause my wii for a while?

My AC-powered Samsung G3 station 1TB spins down if the Wii is paused for a while. But that is to spare the HD from too much usage.
When returning to gaming, the disc spins up and returns to working without any problems in game.

 

[madman89]

Will the AC powered hdd be turn off if pause my wii for a while?

My AC-powered Samsung G3 station 1TB spins down if the Wii is paused for a while. But that is to spare the HD from too much usage.
When returning to gaming, the disc spins up and returns to working without any problems in game.

Thank you for your reply.
Just go back to my last question, does the usb powered hdd has any loadup problem?

 

[shadow100z]

format fat32 the entire drive. use wii backup manager to transfer games. When using wii backupmanager it will create a folder called wbfs on you harddrive. this is where all of you games are stored. Really easy to do. i'm using a 1tb hp simple save ac powered harddrive and works perfect. it takes about the same time to start up as it takes me to start the wii and load cfg usb loader. Also when the wii is shut off the hdd is shut off to. One good little thing i like is that the harddrive lights up blue and matched the wii.
The hp hdd houses a western digital green. Fanless and really quiet.