Hardware WBFS formated drive isn't recognized by WiiBackupManager or WBFS Manager...

[MaxMoney]

Hi all,

I have a problem with an old drive that's WBFS formated.
The Wii can access the drive and read it, but when I want to add some files with WiiBackupManager or WBFS Manager, both don't recognize the drive.

How can I copy the games to another drive then?

greets

Max

 

[Cyan]

your drive has a partition letter when you put it on Windows ?

Some old guide made the full drive a WBFS without any partition table.
But both programs should be able to detect and read this drive format too.

Could you explain better what is not working ?
Is it the drive, the partition or the data ? At which step does it not "recognize" it ?


There is another way to access a WBFS formated drive or partition, but it will involve command line tools, it may be a little harder if you are not familiar with it.
First, let's try to understand what's really happening.

another solution could be to convert the WBFS to FAT32, and get your games from the FAT32 (it's easier to backup/copy to another drive once in FAT32!)

 

[MaxMoney]

Ok I'll try to explain what happens in detail:

1. I connect the drive to my PC and I get a letter eg. F:\
2. I start WiiBackupManager and select Drive 1
3. Change from Inactive to Drive (F
4. The Drive F: is selected but empty. No file is shown.

The Drive was created in 2012 I think, but I used the same WiiBackupManager Version as in 2012.

How can I convert the drive to FAT32 without loosing any data on it?

 

[Cyan]

ok, so the drive has a partition, and is recognized and loading in the program. It just doesn't display any game.
I guess it's the same with WBFS Manager (which you should never use, it corrupts your drive when you delete a game with that program !)

To convert to FAT32, you can use "wbfs2fat" by looking in my signature. it has a guide in my signature too.
But before converting it, maybe we should check if the drive is good, if you don't find any game it could be a WBFS header issue. I guess it could be fixed.
I find it strange that the USBLoader is seeing the games, but not the programs.


if you want to test your drive, you'll need this tool :
https://wit.wiimm.de/download.html
but you'll need to read and learn how it works. you can do a lot without touching the drive (there's a test, read only, mode)
this tool can be dangerous if misused (you can format or delete hdd content)


There's another thing you can try, using a manager GUI using wwt as source.
I'll search for that GUI.

edit:
maybe this one : https://gbatemp.net/threads/wiijmanager-multiplataform-windows-os-x.214002/
or this one :
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wiibafu/ <- I think this one is the most recommended after "Wii Backup Manager" and is multiplateform.

 

[MaxMoney]

@Cyan,

thats how it look in Windows and in "wbfs2fat"...
Any ideas?

The tools you wrote down dont work for me or I don't understand how to use them...

 

[Cyan]

your first sector is probably corrupted, but I find it strange that USBLoaders are bypassing that check.
I think it's fixable, but will require the use of WWT tool.

I don't know the exact command to use, I'll have to learn it and read a lot
@Wiimm knows it best, as it's his tool.

Let's try to summon him here

 

[MaxMoney]

Ok so lets give it a try...

@Wiimm : Please @Wiimm save my drive (sounds like: Please MTV pimp my ride *lol*)

 

[Wiimm]

* https://wit.wiimm.de/wwt/cmd-analyze.html
* https://wit.wiimm.de/wwt/cmd-repair.html

All my 3 Wii drives are formatted as WBFS and are very stable. Because of weekly MKW distributions replace about 100-150 images per year, but i have never issues. So I don't used my tools to repair WBFS for years => no more experience

A Windows Tip:
If WBFS is connected, goto "Datenträgerverwaltung" (don't know english name) and remove drive letter.

 

[GreyWolf]

Disk Management.

 

[MaxMoney]

German discription is ok for me :-)
I'll try to use the manual you wrote.

But for your Windows tip: When I removed the letter, how can I access the drive or what should I do after I've removed the letter? Mount it again with another one?

 

[Wiimm]

Maybe this windows tip is bad for users, that use other tools than mine (or GUIs of my tools) -> wit/wwt don't care about drive letters.

 

[MaxMoney]

I've analyzed the drive and got this. But repair still fails. What do I need to type in?
Thats what I get after analyzing

I don't have any clue now... I removed the letter in disk management.
Tried to access without drive letter --> no wbfs partition found
Tried to give another letter and access again --> no wbfs partition found
Set the partition in disk management to active but same think again :-(

But how can I repair the corrupt sectors

 

[Wiimm]

it failed because no data found. The lines are only the an info about the tried hdd sizees.

Here is an example of my WBFS drive:

ANALYZE /dev/sdh2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    HD SECTORS  WBFS SECTORS   DISCS       (all values in hex)
           WBFS     total  sec  total    sec  max inode
NAME    magic vrs     num size   num    size  num size  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADER:    ok  1 2db85ff0  200  b6e1  800000  1f4  a00  WBFS header scanning
INODE-TIM: ok  1 2db85ff0  200  b6e1  800000  1f4  a00  2017-08-05 19:09:23 n=500
DISCS:      -  0 2db85ff0  200  b6e1  800000  1f4  a00  69 disc header found
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You see, it found 500 inodes and 69 disc headers. And at leaset one of them is needed to repair the disc.

 

[MaxMoney]

Thanks all for youre help. I finally made it.
I tried a partitioning programm and I could repair the defect sectors. So I can access my drive again. BTW it was already NTFS partitioned...

 

[Cyan]

ah, so it wasn't WBFS partition?
I guess that's why wwt didn't find anything, and why the partitioning program could recover the files. maybe it was just a partition table issue.
glad you could get your games back, but be sure to verify them one by one, to be sure they are not corrupted.

Thank you Wiimm for your help again

 

[MaxMoney]

Yes that's probably the reason why...
But after 5 years I thought it was wbfs lol...

Thanks again for the help!

How can I check the games? Is there a tool?

 

[Cyan]

you can use Wit (Wii Iso Tool) the brother of Wwt (Wii Wbfs tool) !
or if you are on windows and prefer a GUI, you can also use WiiBackupManager, it has a "check Sha1" option.

 

[dootgoop]

I had the same issue, as i had created the drive using wiithon back in the day.

The solve is to go into Wii Backup Manager > Settings > Drives > and untick "use mounted drives". The WBFS partitions would be unmounted.