Hacking rumblesigh (HD formatting)

[An00bis]

So I have here an unused maxtor 250 GB HD. The compatibility list says that this works with USB Loader GX (though no confirmations). Anyway, the HD can ONLY be read on a mac (don't give me that crap about format it to fat32, install drivers, etc. It will under no circumstances load on a PC). So I put my SMG2 iso on it and uh plugged it into my wii (I always try both sockets). Wii said no usb drive found. So I went back to my mac and went to Disk Utility and saw that its current format was MacOS Extended (Journaled). The other options were some other macOS thing, and "MS-DOS (FAT)". I read somewhere that FAT32 is the same as MS-DOS and that FAT32 is what you want for reading it on the wii. I formatted it, but then when I tried to put my iso on the drive again it said error 0, and didn't copy over. My hunch is that this is because macs don't read FAT32 drives. So I guess my question is, what exactly do I have to do to be able to copy the iso over and still have it in a format that the wii will read?

Also, I've heard that you have to use WBFS manager to format the drive before you use it with the wii. But in the video I saw, USB Loader GX prompted the user to WBFS as soon as it was plugged in. Also, if someone could link me a WBFS manager that works on a mac, it would be greatly helpful (WiiMS or whatever does NOT work on my mac).

 

[Wolvenreign]

I have a few things to say that might help you out.

1. Stick with USB externals that are capable of working on any OS, especially if you plan to use them for gaming purposes.

2. FAT32 is not what you load Wii games onto. The Wii uses it's own file system called "WBFS". which I believe stands for "Wii Blocks File System". (I may be wrong about the B.) Thus, you must format the USB drive to WBFS. I recommend using this file system only for Wii games, as it's not very efficient otherwise. (Current most efficient storage medium; EXT4)

3. While I don't have much experience with the Mac, I can recommend that you get a Linux partition on your computer and use the excellent WiiThon. Getting a Linux partition on your computer and using it will also teach you much about computer science. For a beginner distro, I recommend Ubuntu. Oh, and Wiithon is currently the fastest loader on any OS, in my estimation.

Good luck, and happy hacking.

Edit: Please post if you found this useful.

 

[PsyBlade]

There are loaders that can use FAT and NTFS (eg cfg and iirc gx)
OSX can read/write FAT and read NTFS
so Id go for FAT

and I doubt the drive cant be used on pcs
macs nothing more than expensive standard pcs
well efi boards are still somewhat rare but that doesnt count

as suggested try formating on a linux box or livecd
the programs you want to use are gparted(gui) or cfdisk/mkfs(cli)
read manuals with "man " first

 

[George Dawes]

Yeah, Mac = PC. It isn't "crap" about partitioning and formatting. Partition it (raw or fat), then format it in whatever os to fat32. It will work with any OS then.