Hacking What is the best file system to use?

[Daviii]

Hey All

Could someone please give me some input on file systems
I wont use wbfs anymore as i have had problems with games dissapearing on me
im using usbloadergx latest rev and cios rev 17

ntfs or fat

 

[Slimmmmmm]

People can only give opinions as both have advantages and disadvantages.


If I had to pick one for now it would be FAT formatted to 32K, but if NTFS improves I'll change my mind

 

[mousex]

123

 

[Daviii]

Hey mouse

I have looked but like you said there are so many threads i would like something more definite

 

[zuron7]

NTFS becase FAT32 can't store files bigger than 4 GB.

 

[XFlak]

did u read slimmmmmmmmmmm's response? I agree with him 100%

right now fat32 is the way to go in my opinion

i think most (but not all) people still using wbfs partitions is doing so for 2 reasons

1) because they've been using it since b4 fat32 support came out and it's a pain in the ass to transition to fat32 if u have a lot of games
2) because they don't know fat32 support exists

@zuron7, fat32 can split games larger than 4 gigs into 4gb parts, so that's no reason to choose ntfs over fat32... and ntfs support is read only atm, so that means no ripping games and writing them to your NTFS HD

 

[xzxero]

what hee said

plus with FAT, emulators and the Homebrew Channel can read your device.

If you go with NTFS, you'll just end up making a FAT partition eventually.

 

[lufeig]

because i prefer to play on the safe side, i use ntfs.

imho, fat32 is the best fs by now, games in wbfs formatted hdd are more difficult to rescue in case of a disaster, but ntfs is safer than fat32.

 

[xzxero]

in what way is it "safer"?

 

[XFlak]

ntfs is safer than fat32.

how is this exactly? fat32 is just as safe!

in my opinion, the only 2 benefits NTFS will eventually have over fat32 (once ntfs write support is perfected) are:

1) u wont have to split your wii game files anymore (but who cares... not like u notice a difference, especially if u use wii game/backup manager to transfer your games to the HD).

2) u can store files (other than wii games) larger than 4 gigs on ntfs system... so if u use the same hard drive to store large movies or apps, u wont need to split the files into parts to save them (but again... who cares, only a handful of movie rips are larger than 4 gbs, and those are usually mkv's, which can't be played on the wii anyways...)

 

[AdamBrunt]

i think most (but not all) people still using wbfs partitions is doing so for 2 reasons

1) because they've been using it since b4 fat32 support came out and it's a pain in the ass to transition to fat32 if u have a lot of games

On this issue ... is there an easy way (or even application) of migrating across from wbfs to fat32/ntfs ? Or do you literally have to re-add all the games again from scratch ?

EDTI: Ignore me - I think this is what I am looking for

 

[bnm81002]

i think most (but not all) people still using wbfs partitions is doing so for 2 reasons

1) because they've been using it since b4 fat32 support came out and it's a pain in the ass to transition to fat32 if u have a lot of games

On this issue ... is there an easy way (or even application) of migrating across from wbfs to fat32/ntfs ? Or do you literally have to re-add all the games again from scratch ?

I used this to transfer from WBFS to FAT32, but transfer it little at a time otherwise you will have to leave your computer on for as long as it finishes the transferring of the games,
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=188...t=0&start=0

 

[XFlak]

u can use wii backup manager or wii game manager to make the process easier... but u still would need to save all the games to another hard drive, format the original hard drive, then copy all the games back

edit: nvm, looks like u found wii backup manager all by yourself

 

[AdamBrunt]

Ok, the other question is ...

If you currently not using the USB HDD for anything else, is there much point in switching from wbfs to fat32/ntfs ? From what I've read, in this scenario, all you'd really gain is the ability to store the loader configs and covers on the USB drive as well (but they don't take up much space).

 

[XFlak]

there are windows programs to retrieve corrupted data off of a fat32 harddrive... but these programs do not exist for wbfs partitions (if they get corrupted, u r screwed)

fat32 hard drives can store games and covers like u said, but it can also store homebrew apps/files (that u probably already have saved to an sd card)

pretty much, wbfs partitions can only store wii games, fat32 hard drives can store everything wii related, as well as apps that are not wii-related (but that doesn't matter 2 u since it sounds like this hard drive is for the wii only)

 

[AdamBrunt]

fat32 hard drives can store games and covers like u said, but it can also store homebrew apps/files (that u probably already have saved to an sd card)

pretty much, wbfs partitions can only store wii games, fat32 hard drives can store everything wii related, as well as apps that are not wii-related (but that doesn't matter 2 u since it sounds like this hard drive is for the wii only)

It is used for the wii only.

but I guess being able to store homebrew on HDD (rather than SD) would be a positive step. And I am also guessing that at some point SNEEK and/or triiforce (neither of which I have actually investigated/used ... my bad) will be updated to run off USB HDD (if they can't already ?) which again would be no bad thing.

 

[XFlak]

triiforce works with fat32 USB, sneek will likely never work off USB

 

[AdamBrunt]

triiforce works with fat32 USB, sneek will likely never work off USB

Ah, ok.

Might have to start looking into it then.

At the moment, I use WBFS Manager to get ISOs onto the HDD (which 'scrubs' them as it goes). If FAT32 stores them as ISOs then I am go going to lose a fair bit of space right ? Or can I just store the existing files (in there current format) on a FAT32 drive ?

 

[XFlak]

the files are scrubbed, but stored in a different format... don't worry, wii backup manager does all of the thinking for u, just use the program to transfer games and don't worry

 

[AdamBrunt]

thanls for the help xflak40

One final thing ... do I need to worry about partitioning when I reformat the HDD ? Or can everything (apps, homebrew, triiforce stuff, games, loader cfg, etc) go in the same partition ? With maybe some obviously names folders ?