Hacking USBLoaderGX: Having trouble with two hdds plugged at same time in vWii

[Antonio Soler]

Hi, I have two external HDDs for use with the WiiU. One is a Seagate 1Tb formated in the Wiiu system file, full of WiiU Games, and the other one is a Western Digital 2Tb with 2 partitions, one FAT32 with Gamecube games and one NTFS, which i use for Wii games.

I also use this 2Tb HDD in my Wii, with no problems. I use both HDDs in the WiiU with two USB Y cables, one for each.

The problem is when i have the 2 HDDs connected at the same time in WiiU vWii mode. When i try to load USBLoaderGX, it doesn´t recognize the 2tb HDD if the 1Tb HDD is connected. I tried switching USB ports (back and front) but it didn't help.

It's starnge, cause the 2Tb HDD FAT32/NTFS is recognized by USB Toggle and by Genesis Plus Emulator when both HDDs are plugged.

Anyone has any idea what could be happening? I would like to have access to all my game in one console without having to plug/unplug the WiiU games HDD.

 

[jeannotte]

Hello,

For your games wii and GC games (DDE fat32 and NTFS), branch your DDE to the back of the wii u.

Then for your games wii u (DDE system wii u), branch it to the front of your wii u.

For your DDE which is formatted in two partitions, I advise you to make only one partiton in fat 32.

 

[Antonio Soler]

Hello,

For your wii and GC games (DDE fat32 and NTFS), branch your DDE to the back of the wii u.

Then for your games wii u (DDE system wii u), branch it to the front of your wii u.

For your DDE which is formatted in two partitions, I advise you to make only one partiton in fat 32.

I have already switched the ports (front and back), but it didn´t help.

 

[CanIHazWarez]

Did you try swapping the actual branches of the Y-cable? Y-cables have one plug for data and one plug purely for power. For Wii U, it doesn't matter. For Wii/vWii, I believe there is a specific usb port that needs to be used for hard drives. I think it's the bottom port on the back, at least it was on the original Wii. I'm not sure if the front ports work in vWii mode or not, but one of the back ones definitely should.

 

[Yoluha]

For Game Cube it is not possible nintendont does not work whit 2 hdds. I have the same situation here. If your problem is with the Loader Gx itself check you CIOS version and also loader gx if they both are in the last build.

 

[jmjohnson85]

Here is my setup and I can tell you that it works 100% perfectly. I don't need to unplug/replug drives (thanks to UStealth). I don't need to use multiple partitions. And I am able keep both drives plugged into the rear USB ports on my WiiU. I am confident that if you setup something similar you will be very satisfied. Again, everything loads perfectly and just works.

• 1TB HDD for WiiU in Port 1

• 250GB HDD for both Wii and GameCube in Port 0
  • FAT32
  • Single partition
  • Partition hidden with UStealth (keeps WiiU from trying to format the drive)
  • Wii games installed with Wii Backup Manager as WBFS
  • Gamecube games installed in DiscEx format (I think this is now obsolete but it does save some disk space)
  • d2x cIOS
    
  • Nintendont v4.436 (latest)
  • USB Loader GX Rev1260
    • *Loader Settings*
    • Loader's IOS - 58(Rev 6432)
    • Game's IOS - 251
    • Quick Boot - OFF
    • Block IOS Reload - Auto
    • *GameCube Settings*
    • GameCube Source - Auto
    • GameCube Mode - Nintendont
    • *Nintendont*
    • Auto Boot - ON
    • Settings File - No Change
    • Remove Read Speed Limit - OFF
    • *Hard Drive Settings*
    • Game/Install Partition - FAT32
    • Multiple Partitions - OFF
    • USB Port - 0
    • Mount USB at launch - ON
    • *Custom Paths*
    • Main GameCube Path - usb1:/games/
    • Nintendont Loader Path - sd:/apps/nintendont/

Edit: I have switched back to USBLoaderGX Rev1260 because Rev1262 was unstable on my vWii.

 

[Deleted User]

Out of curiosity, are your 2 drives both 3.5" externals?

I planned on connecting up two drives, but I'd prefer to use 2.5" ones, but the annoying Y cables sort of prevent that. I had an idea to connect them to a powered USB hub (the power lines), but I have a feeling that wouldn't work.

The only 3.5" externals I have don't have power buttons, so they stay on indefinitely unfortunately.

 

[jmjohnson85]

Out of curiosity, are your 2 drives both 3.5" externals?

I planned on connecting up two drives, but I'd prefer to use 2.5" ones, but the annoying Y cables sort of prevent that. I had an idea to connect them to a powered USB hub (the power lines), but I have a feeling that wouldn't work.

The only 3.5" externals I have don't have power buttons, so they stay on indefinitely unfortunately.

No they are both 2.5" hard drives. The external enclosures I'm using came with power adapters. So the drives both have power supplied constantly. When the WiiU powers off, both HDDs automatically spin down. And when the WiiU powers on, both HDDs automatically spin back up. It's amazingly convenient and I never have to mess with anything.

 

[Deleted User]

By chance do you know the model of those 2.5" enclosures?

 

[jmjohnson85]

Yes it is RF-AHD25 by Rocketfish. Looks like they still have them on Amazon here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001D8HVGY

I also saw a newer model with USB 3.0 but I can't give any feedback on that since mine are the older USB 2.0 model.

 

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the link! Yea the 3.0 models did away with the power port. The new versions of the one you linked are $35 from a secondary seller.

I did however find a Sabrent model that supports external AC adapters, but sadly doesn't come with them. Though Sabrent was able to provide me the model of their adapter. Comes out to about $50 for the pair, which is at least a bit cheaper than the one you linked (assuming new). Will report back with results on Sunday.

Shame the power adapter is as much as the enclosure, but worth the cost if I can use two HDD's for Wii/WiiU. (The SD card likes to chug on Wii games sadly).

Enclosure: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EIGUD4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MRGKPH8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[jmjohnson85]

That's a 4 amp power adapter. You won't need that much power. Remember the power supply is only *supplementing* the power already provided to the drive through USB. A 1 amp power adapter will be plenty for this. Here's one on eBay for $2.59 (from China though...) - http://www.ebay.com/itm/291921988874

 

[Deleted User]

Oh yeah I'm aware. I have a couple other uses for them in mind for some hobby projects.