Hacking USB Loader GX - Partition not being recognized

[Mattman124]

I have a 4tb WD easystore external hard drive that I'm currently using for Wii backups. The partition I've been using for that is in a NTSF format. Now, I've created a new FAT32 partition for the Gamecube games. However, when I load up USB Loader GX, it doesn't detect the other partition, and won't list the Gamecube games. I have the multiple partition option checked, but when I try to direct the Gamecube path to the new partition, it only allows me to direct it to the NTSF partition. Also, I should mention that both partitions are active, and are primary as well. If anyone has any advice, I'd greatly appreciate it

 

[Cyan]

the multiple partition option is for wii games only.
if you want to load gamecube on another partition, you have to go to settings>user's paths>Main gamecube folder : set it to USB2:/games/

remember that nintendont will only mount the first FAT32 partition it finds, so if you have NTFS first, and FAT32 next, it should work.
if you have two FAT32, you need to put games on the first listed FAT32 partition.

Maybe the loader still have a check to prevent users to use anything else than USB1 ? (long ago, only the FIRST partition of the drive could be used, and then only usb1:/ worked, so I made a check to prevent selecting anything else than SD or usb1 partition. maybe that check is still in place. if that's the case, I'm sorry, I forgot to remove it , or you are using an old version of the loader)

just a thing you should note: you can't have both partition as active, it's not possible (unless writing the partition table manually)
and the wii doesn't care which partition is set to boot first on a computer (Active = tell the computer's BIOS which partition to use to boot your OS from, windows, linux, etc.)
Wii homebrew never check if a partition is active or not, it's not useful and will never affect the compatibility.

 

[GreyWolf]

I don't think the "active" flag does anything on the Wii. I think it's just to determine which partition is the boot partition for Windows.

 

[Mattman124]

the multiple partition option is for wii games only.
if you want to load gamecube on another partition, you have to go to settings>user's paths>Main gamecube folder : set it to USB2:/games/

remember that nintendont will only mount the first FAT32 partition it finds, so if you have NTFS first, and FAT32 next, it should work.
if you have two FAT32, you need to put games on the first listed FAT32 partition.

Maybe the loader still have a check to prevent users to use anything else than USB1 ? (long ago, only the FIRST partition of the drive could be used, and then only usb1:/ worked, so I made a check to prevent selecting anything else than SD or usb1 partition. maybe that check is still in place. if that's the case, I'm sorry, I forgot to remove it , or you are using an old version of the loader)

just a thing you should note: you can't have both partition as active, it's not possible (unless writing the partition table manually)
and the wii doesn't care which partition is set to boot first on a computer (Active = tell the computer's BIOS which partition to use to boot your OS from, windows, linux, etc.)
Wii homebrew never check if a partition is active or not, it's not useful and will never affect the compatibility.

Thanks for the quick reply

I've tried going to the custom paths folder and hitting the bottom middle button to try and change the path of the partition, but it only allows me to select from the NTFS partition and the SD card

 

[Cyan]

that restriction is only on gamecube path option ?
or other path option also have no way to select the FAT32 partition ?

Maybe I really forgot to remove the restriction on gamecube, but I thought you could "list" other partition, and you had a warning telling you that only usb1 was possible.
your issue is different as it's not even listing other partitions.
And, I think "usb2" is possible to select, as I've helped other users setup 2 HDD plugged at the same time and gamecube was on usb2:/ without issue.

that's strange you can't list that partition.
could you try to go to settings > hdd settings > click on the first item, it should scroll all the found partitions. do you have your FAT32 listed here?

maybe the "partition detection" function launched at the start of the loader has an issue.

 

[Mattman124]

that restriction is only on gamecube path option ?
or other path option also have no way to select the FAT32 partition ?

Maybe I really forgot to remove the restriction on gamecube, but I thought you could "list" other partition, and you had a warning telling you that only usb1 was possible.
your issue is different as it's not even listing other partitions.
And, I think "usb2" is possible to select, as I've helped other users setup 2 HDD plugged at the same time and gamecube was on usb2:/ without issue.

that's strange you can't list that partition.
could you try to go to settings > hdd settings > click on the first item, it should scroll all the found partitions. do you have your FAT32 listed here?

maybe the "partition detection" function launched at the start of the loader has an issue.

I just checked that. It only lists the NTFS partition

 

[Cyan]

ok, thanks.

so, something is wrong with your partition.
It's strange coincidence, another person reported an issue with his FAT32 today too!

How did you format the drive? on Windows or linux? it could be the FAT32 version is not good.
which tool did you use to create the partition? windows hdd manager, or easus, or something else?
could you see if Wiixplorer can list that partition? the other user couldn't list his SD card with wiixplorer. he didn't report yet, but I asked him to reformat using GUIFormat (FAT32 format program on windows)

 

[Mattman124]

I formatted it using the windows disk manager

Wiixplorer doesn't see the partition

 

[GreyWolf]

It could be in a logical partition or maybe the partition table isn't MBR?

 

[Mattman124]

Does the entire disk have to be MBR, or just the partition with the Gamecube games?

 

[GreyWolf]

The drive can only have one real partition table, generally either MBR or GPT. All homebrew should work with MBR but some may not recognize GPT partitions. Also make sure you didn't accidentally make it a dynamic partition. The loader's NTFS library doesn't support those.

GPT supports some kind of hybrid MBR emulation but I'm not sure that will work on Wii homebrew.

 

[Cyan]

I don't know what a dynamic partition is, nor hybrid MBR. Hey, new stuff to learn, yay! I love learning new things

 

[Mattman124]

Nevermind, I see that MBR disks can't be more than 2 tb. So there's no way to utilize the other 2 tb on my hard drive if I wanted to use it?

 

[Mattman124]

All right, I figured it out. Turns out the disk needs to be MBR, not GPT for multiple partitions.

Thanks again for everyone's help

 

[GreyWolf]

Dynamic disks let you do things like span one partition across multiple drives, mirror them, etc. whether you have RAID hardware or not.

Hybrid MBR is just evil and is better not discussed.

 

[Cyan]

GPT is compatible, but not with many homebrew.
USBLoaderGX is compatible, but I had report it has a bug where each partitions are mounted twice (so, 2 NTFS, 2 FAT32), but lists only the correct amount of them (so, twice the NTFS and none FAT32).

If you have a single 4TB GPT FAT32, it will work fine.

 

[Mattman124]

GPT is compatible, but not with many homebrew.
USBLoaderGX is compatible, but I had report it has a bug where each partitions are mounted twice (so, 2 NTFS, 2 FAT32), but lists only the correct amount of them (so, twice the NTFS and none FAT32).

If you have a single 4TB GPT FAT32, it will work fine.

But the largest it allows me to do is 2 tb for a partition

 

[Cyan]

FAT32 can go up to 16TB, but it's based on the sector size (physical data you can't change, it's set by manufacturer) and the starting sector need to be located under the 2TB mark.

You probably have a 512bytes/sector HDD; which limit the partitions to 2TB if you use 32k/cluster.
if you format the FAT32 with 64k per cluster you should be able to make a 4TB partition.

but it's rare to have a drive bigger than 2TB with 512bytes/sectors, they usually are 4096bytes/sector (intermediate sector size exists but are even rarer)

how the max FAT32 size is set :
https://gbatemp.net/threads/quick-newbie-questions-here.155449/page-127#post-4759621

 

[Mattman124]

FAT32 can go up to 16TB, but it's based on the sector size (physical data you can't change, it's set by manufacturer) and the starting sector need to be located under the 2TB mark.

You probably have a 512bytes/sector HDD; which limit the partitions to 2TB if you use 32k/cluster.
if you format the FAT32 with 64k per cluster you should be able to make a 4TB partition.

but it's rare to have a drive bigger than 2TB with 512bytes/sectors, they usually are 4096bytes/sector (intermediate sector size exists but are even rarer)

how the max FAT32 size is set :
https://gbatemp.net/threads/quick-newbie-questions-here.155449/page-127#post-4759621

I've tried doing that, but when I try to format it to FAT32, it only gives me an option to use 2kb as the cluster size (I'm using AOMEI)

 

[Cyan]

did you try formatting using GUIFormat ? (if you are on windows)

just create the partition, and don't format it with your partition tool.
use GUI Format to do it.
edit :
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm