SD card size upgrade - payload won't load.

[patters]

I want to move from a 32GB card to a 128GB card I just bought. It's definitely genuine since I ran F3 on it to test it and it passed.

I formatted the new card as FAT32 using Disk Utility on macOS and copied all the contents of my 32GB card onto it, but when I put it in the Wii U and boot I see a text warning that payload.elf could not be loaded from the SD card. Is there some special step needed when migrating from one card to another? Do I need to use some other tool to clobber the 128GB card to FAT32 (I know the SDXC standard requires ExFAT)? Is it an allocation unit size issue?

 

[mrmagicm]

Try not to format it on macOS. Try formating it on FAT32 with 32K cluster with a tool like NIUBI Partition Editor Free Edition or Macrorit Partition Expert .
For me, it's better than partition assistant,Minitool PartitionWizard , AOMEI.Partition.Assistantor BOOTICE.
Also "Fat 32 Format Gui Ridgecrop+fat32format.exe" si a good simple option for formating any SD card. ExFAT might be the nogood one, you must choose FAT32 with the tool I told you.

 

[patters]

Hmm. It is FAT32 with 32K allocation units though. I have checked with `diskutil info`.
I'll try using a PC to format it, but I'm wondering if the card might be defective.

 

[mrmagicm]

Is it a sd card, or a micro sd card within adaptor?

 

[patters]

Full size SD. Could it be a fragmentation issue perhaps?

 

[neverendsDull]

There are not so many files on aroma so I don't think it's fragmentation...Probably your console is picky about the card, just try another one.
personally used 128GB TF with adapter and 64GB full size SD with no issue

 

[mrmagicm]

Maybe also an air bomb in the sd reader could help?

 

[patters]

I used Rufus to repartition and format it on a PC and it's working fine now. I suspect that it was probably UEFI partitioned when it needed to be MBR partitioned. I probably could have done that on the Mac. But at least this info will be here now in case someone else has the issue.

 

[mrmagicm]

Does that mean Mac does UEFI by default on Sd cards? anybody knows?

 

[patters]

Not sure. I didn't check. It was ExFAT from the packet (since SDXC spec) and I just clicked format and selected FAT. So I think it leaves the partitions unchanged. So either it was already UEFI, or macOS defaults to that on large removable media.

 

[mrmagicm]

If someone KNOWS about mac, and can answer, it would be nice ^^

 

[Anxiety_timmy]

If someone KNOWS about mac, and can answer, it would be nice ^^

try using disc utility on mac with the format set to fat (MS-DOS)

 

[patters]

That's what I had done in the first instance when it didn't work. However I didn't confirm what the partition table type was before I blew it all away with Rufus.

 

[MidTVU]

If possible, boot to a linux LiveCD and use the Disks or GParted tools, and make sure that the SD is MBR, not GPT. I set my SD Card to GPT, Wii U had no clue what I put in. Set it to MBR and it works like a charm.
=edit=
You can also use a USB Stick, just in case you dont have a CD or DVD drive.