Hacking Recover Wii U External Disk ?

[Maxcension]

Hello!
Yesterday, by mistake, Windows wipes my Wii U external disk, with all my games and that's a bit annoying because i have a crappy internet and i don't want to download everything again.
So, i tried to recover the partition with Ease Partition Recovery but because of the fact that Nintendo din't use a classic partition like FAT32, it don't detect the partition.
Can a software (windows or linux) can recover my partition? I didn't written anything on it since so, normally, the partition is in a good state.
Thanks!

 

[JayMathis]

Nope it's gone. Wii U uses it's own format so there's no way Windows can recover it. Why would you even put a Wii U formatted hard drive in your computer? 100% gone.

 

[Maxcension]

Nope it's gone. Wii U uses it's own format so there's no way Windows can recover it. Why would you even put a Wii U formatted hard drive in your computer? 100% gone.

I can use linux too. And because of the fact that that i also use a ps3 where we only have to put the iso, i forget and i thought that it was the same for the wii u.

 

[JayMathis]

I had crappy internet for years and was able to get every game on every console I ever wanted, even if it took longer to get each game. You'll just have to redownload everything.

 

[Maxcension]

I had crappy internet for years and was able to get every game on every console I ever wanted, even if it took longer to get each game. You'll just have to redownload everything.

Yeah but it's better if i can simply recover the partition.
I think that windows didn't format it but only install GBR table.

 

[JayMathis]

Ok you seem to have trouble listening. You cannot recover a Wii U partition period. It is gone, get over it.

 

[Maxcension]

Ok you seem to have trouble listening. You cannot recover a Wii U partition period. It is gone, get over it.

Can you stop acting like a jerk? thanks for your "help" but try to talk to people a bit nicer.

Gonna take a look at wfsdump, maybe the partition wasn't wiped.

 

[JayMathis]

Forget it I'm interested in this thread any longer.

 

[Maxcension]

I'm not acting like a jerk at all. You're ignoring what I'm saying. You wanted an answer I gave you one you just don't like the answer. Have fun "recovering" your WIi U drive which is impossible. You are wasting your time.

I get tired of hardheaded kids like you who ask for help then think they know everything.

Ok bro, but you didn't listen me either because i said that i can also use linux. You just patronized me for nothing.
Maybe if your answer was nicer (and explicative) and not just a bunch of scorn, I would listen to you.
By the way, wfsdump can also inject files (here).

 

[KleinesSinchen]

The Wii U not only uses some propriety format but also encrypts the data. There is simply no normal partition table on a Wii U mass storage device.

My guess is that formatting the device with Windows creates a partition table with a single partition and then creates the FAT32/exFAT/NTFS file system and this is probably the end for the Wii U file system. You can try opening the device on a computer with
https://github.com/Maschell/fuse-wiiu
https://github.com/koolkdev/wfslib
but I don't have much hope here.


Under Linux lsblk and fdisk don't detect anything on an intact Wii U storage device.

lsblk /dev/sdm
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sdm 8:192 1 115.5G 0 disk

===================

fdisk /dev/sdm

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.33.1).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

Device does not contain a recognized partition table.

 

[spectral]

It doesn't matter if its windows or linux. The data is gone. Even if the data on it was fine, the stuff you've already done with it would make a Wii U reject it and want to reformat.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Can you stop acting like a jerk? thanks for your "help" but try to talk to people a bit nicer.

Gonna take a look at wfsdump, maybe the partition wasn't wiped.

wfsdump would work except it's probably not going to see the partition since it was wiped. So as that other guy said, you're most likely out of luck. What you would need is a WFS specific data recovery program, and that doesn't exist.
wfsdump is still worth a shot though. Can't hurt. Do note that it's going to be slower than just redownloading all the games unless your internet is very slow, because of the Wii U's slow wifi and the fact that the only way to get the data back onto the drive once it's formatted back to WFS is with ftpiiu_everywhere over wifi.
I suppose you could use a LAN adapter which would be faster.

It doesn't matter if its windows or linux. The data is gone. Even if the data on it was fine, the stuff you've already done with it would make a Wii U reject it and want to reformat.

That's actually not a problem if he was able to get the data off it, since he could reformat it in the Wii U and transfer the files over to it from the PC with ftpiiu_everywhere. It would be a slow process though, slower than actually redownloading every game since the Wii U's wifi is slow, and there is no real way to transfer files to it from a PC (the file injecting just works by replacing an existing file). But you're probably right in that it's not possible to recover it.

 

[spectral]

wfsdump would work except it's probably not going to see the partition since it was wiped. So as that other guy said, you're most likely out of luck. What you would need is a WFS specific data recovery program, and that doesn't exist.
wfsdump is still worth a shot though. Can't hurt.

That's actually not a problem if he was able to get the data off it, since he could reformat it in the Wii U and transfer the files over to it from the PC with ftpiiu_everywhere. But you're probably right in that it's not possible to recover it.

Well no program on the PC is going to recover the files in a way the PC can read them, its a completely alien file system to the PC.

While I don't know for sure, even if you could format the drive on the Wii U and FTP the files back, I'd wager the process would make the Wii U reject them as valid.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Well no program on the PC is going to recover the files in a way the PC can read them, its a completely alien file system to the PC.

While I don't know for sure, even if you could format the drive on the Wii U and FTP the files back, I'd wager the process would make the Wii U reject them as valid.

I think you haven't looked into what wfsdump does. It has a very small chance of actually working, but if it worked, getting the files off wouldn't be much of a problem.

Formatting the drive and putting the files back on with ftpiiu_everywhere would definitely work. You may have to manually fix the permissions, as those would be lost, but inside that proprietary encrypted file system are perfectly normal files, and they are not tied to the partition in any way, they are fully decrypted, normal files once dumped.

 

[spectral]

I think you haven't looked into what wfsdump does. It has a very small chance of actually working, but if it worked, getting the files off wouldn't be much of a problem.

Formatting the drive and putting the files back on with ftpiiu_everywhere would definitely work. You may have to manually fix the permissions, as those would be lost, but inside that proprietary encrypted file system are perfectly normal files, and they are not tied to the partition in any way, they are fully decrypted, normal files once dumped.

I'm not saying its not possible to get files off the drive onto a PC when the drive is a fully functional Wii U drive. But as far as I know there is no PC based recovery software that can do it, especially not once its already been ran through a PC partition recovery program.

As for the files, I'm willing to stand corrected on that point. I had suspected the issue would be that the Wii U would detect another system altering file metadata and then rejecting them.