Hacking Which SD card to buy for Loadiine?

[Slartibartfast42]

If we have kernel access, why can't we load games from USB like the Wii, instead of the SD card..? And will emuNAND be possible from SD in the future?

Beth those things require more than kernel, they need IOSU.

 

[pLaYeR^^]

I want to buy a 128 GB or 256 GB SD card. Someone have recommendations?

 

[Spindash]

Following your posts, I was quite confused on which SD Card to buy, so I went to Amazon and bought all SanDisk Ultra SD Cards from the SanDisk vendor (https://www.amazon.fr/Carte-Mémoire-SanDisk-jusquà-Classe/dp/B014IX0202).
The cards are the following :http://i.imgur.com/bfdsGDh.jpg
- SanDisk Ultra 40mb/s 8gb SDHC (SDSDUN-008G-G46 on Amazon, but received SDSDUNC-008G-FFP)
- SanDisk Ultra 80mb/s 16gb SDHC (SDSDUNC-016G-GN6IN on Amazon, but received SDSDUNC-016H-GZFIN)
- SanDisk Ultra 80mb/s 32gb SDHC (SDSDUNC-032G-GN6IN on Amazon, but received SDSDUNC-032G-GZFIN)
- SanDisk Ultra 80mb/s 64gb SDXC (SDSDUNC-064G-GN6IN on Amazon, but received SDSDUNC-064G-GZFIN)
- SanDisk Ultra 80mb/s 128gb SDXC (SDSDUNC-128G-GN6IN on Amazon, but received SDSDUNC-128G-GZFIN)
They are all manufactured in China.

The SD Card contained only Super Mario 3D World (Release : "Super Mario 3D World EUR Wii U Loadiine READY2PLAY") + loadiine_gx2 (release of 21 may 2016 - Loadiine-nightly-195aaab) and tested on a WiiU Europe 5.5.1 (model WUP101(03) - Black - 32gb).
Test 1 : FAT32 with 64k per cluster (mkfs.fat -F32 -s 128 -n WIIU -v /dev/sdX1) + no modification to the downloaded game :
Test 2 : FAT32 with 32k per cluster (mkfs.fat -F32 -s 64 -n WIIU -v /dev/sdX1) + no modification to the downloaded game :
Test 3 : FAT32 with 32k per cluster (mkfs.fat -F32 -s 64 -n WIIU -v /dev/sdX1) + deleting useless languages (rm -fr SDCARD/wiiu/games/Super\ Mario\ 3D\ World\ EUR\ \[ARDP01\]/content/LocalizedData/Eu{Ru,Pt,Nl,It,Es,De} && rm -fr SDCARD/wiiu/games/Super\ Mario\ 3D\ World\ EUR\ \[ARDP01\]/content/LuigiBros/msg/EUR_{au,cs,da,de,el,es,fi,it,nl,no,pl,tr,sv,ru,pt})

Loading time results are obtained from the moment we press the A button (loading game) until "Press button A" appears on screen.
Results are the following (Capacity : Test 1 - Test 2 - Test 3)
- 8gb : 1:09 - 1:07 - 1:06
- 16gb : 1:06 - 1:05 - 1:05
- 32gb : 1:06 - 1:05 - 1:05
- 64gb : 1:03 - 1:05 - 1:05
- 128gb : 1:04 - 1:04 - 1:04

Results could change if the Wii U, after hard reset, was used to something else before running the game, this makes loading time increase by ~1-8 seconds (observed with 16gb, 32gb, 64gb and 128gb SD Cards).

Note that the Test 3 was performed twice :
- by removing files from mentionned folders
- by formatting the SD Card and copying everything inside except the useless language files (difference of ~1sec for the total loading time)

Thank you,
izon

Very interesting... so the size of the card doesn't affect loading times after all... I still wonder if you have a bigger card (for ex. 64GB ) almost full, if it still has the same loading times.

 

[LuigiXL]

Can anyone tell me if 32k cluster or 64k cluster is best? Ive tried 32k and load times for some games are slow. I wonder if 64k cluster will really make any difference? Thanks

Sorry, bump?

 

[Slartibartfast42]

Sorry, bump?

64k is usually better.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I want to buy a 128 GB or 256 GB SD card. Someone have recommendations?

Sandisk Ultra is fine. A Samsung is also fine.

 

[iz0n]

For the sake of completeness, here are other results (loading time results are obtained from the moment we press the A button (loading game) until "Press button A" appears on screen)
Results are the following :
@Spindash : for 128gb FAT32 32kb cluster size full of games + Super Mario 3D World (last game copied to sd card), the loading time is : 1:06.

Tests done on Samsung Evo Micro SD Card 128gb FAT32 + 32kb cluster size (MB-MP128DA/EU named "Samsung 128GB Evo Micro SDXC UHS-I Class 10 mit Adapter - 48 MB/s") bought here, loading time are :
Test 1 : 1:19
Test 2 : 1:17.

The Sandisk Ultra are definitely faster by 10sec.
Thank you,

 

[Vendo232]

Guys

I just bought this card 128GB
SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC UHS-I (SDSQUNC-128G-GN6MA)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010Q57S62/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

it works OK but I suffer with loading times, the speed drops from 8MB/s to 0.09MB/s ( under 100kbytes/s )

I tried 2 different PCs and still it is very bad, it took my 3 days to fill this card with backups.

is this card defective or it is normal dueto the FAT32 format?

 

[RandomUser]

I think that the front SD card slot while will use UHS based SD card, however wont utilize it. Since USB 2.0 is limited to roughly 45MB Per Seconds, therefore most likely the SD card slot will not go beyond the 45MB per seconds throughput, however I could be wrong that it may not even support that fast of a speed. As stated from Nintendo UHS card are not compatible. Again, it not exactly true that it isn't compatible as people used those card without a problem, the slot just cannot utilize UHS speed. Even if the slot does actually utilize UHS speed, in theory their should be no reason to pay more for faster SD card greater then 45MB per seconds, unless you happen to find them cheaper like on sale or something.

 

[DiversityDan]

Which of the following would be my best bet? I am also up for any suggestions in the under $30 dollar rang.

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital-Memory-SD10VG2-64GB/dp/B012GNQNJA/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467298185&sr=1-1&keywords=sd+card&refinements=p_36:1000-3000,p_89:Kingston

https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-R85MB-Memory-SP064GBSDXAU1V10EJ/dp/B01D63U9US/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467298082&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_feature_two_browse-bin:6518305011,p_36:1000-3000,p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:7582269011,p_85:2470955011

https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Speed-UHS-3-Memory-TS128GSDU3/dp/B00J3KA8JG?ie=UTF8&keywords=uhs-3 sd card&qid=1444333472&ref_=sr_1_3&s=electronics&sr=1-3

 

[LuigiXL]

Which of the following would be my best bet? I am also up for any suggestions in the under $30 dollar rang.

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital-Memory-SD10VG2-64GB/dp/B012GNQNJA/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467298185&sr=1-1&keywords=sd+card&refinements=p_36:1000-3000,p_89:Kingston

https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-R85MB-Memory-SP064GBSDXAU1V10EJ/dp/B01D63U9US/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467298082&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_feature_two_browse-bin:6518305011,p_36:1000-3000,p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:7582269011,p_85:2470955011

https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Speed-UHS-3-Memory-TS128GSDU3/dp/B00J3KA8JG?ie=UTF8&keywords=uhs-3 sd card&qid=1444333472&ref_=sr_1_3&s=electronics&sr=1-3

Number 3, its bigger.

 

[DiversityDan]

Number 3, its bigger.

Woops meant to link the 64 version. I can't afford $54 ;/

 

[Comedor]

Guys

I just bought this card 128GB
SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC UHS-I (SDSQUNC-128G-GN6MA)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010Q57S62/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

it works OK but I suffer with loading times, the speed drops from 8MB/s to 0.09MB/s ( under 100kbytes/s )

I tried 2 different PCs and still it is very bad, it took my 3 days to fill this card with backups.

is this card defective or it is normal dueto the FAT32 format?

Damn, I was one click away from buying this card.

Did you fix it? What you guys think? Any other recommendations?

 

[Slartibartfast42]

Damn, I was one click away from buying this card.

Did you fix it? What you guys think? Any other recommendations?

That's a good card. Mine works fine. His is broken or something else is wrong. Maybe he did not format it properly. What you want to do is first do a low level format on your brand new card. Then, do a FAT32 format, but make sure to use 64k clusters. It will work great.

 

[AdamBrunt]

Stupid question ... in Windows 10, how do you format a 128GB SD card as FAT32 ?? I have put a brand new 128GB SD card in my PC and Windows 10 says it is already exFAT ???

 

[Brenry]

Kind of surprised that for the 5 year library, this system only had ~140 disc releases, and under half that worth bothering with. 200 gig SD should have alot of breathing room left over.

The thing I'm ultimately hoping for would be able to access ethernet network shares on a NAS storage device like modded 360/ps3 systems offer, and skip the USB limitation original softmod Wii had.

Really looking forward to updates on that combination of Uwizard/U-Tility to create an ultimate package like Wii Backup Manager was.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

Stupid question ... in Windows 10, how do you format a 128GB SD card as FAT32 ?? I have put a brand new 128GB SD card in my PC and Windows 10 says it is already exFAT ???

You need a third party formatter. I used Easus Partition Master, but there are many choices. I used HDGuru for the low level. But again, there are many choices.

 

[mistre]

I have a 256gb SD from Kingston and its run perfect. https://www.amazon.de/Kingston-Prof...qid=1468397092&sr=8-2&keywords=256gb+kingston
Make quick format on Windows 7 with this http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm

 

[simbin]

Someone posted a link to this SD card: http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Spe...&qid=1444333472&sr=1-3&keywords=uhs-3+sd+card

So I bought it and it works wonders with Loadiine. Every game including Xenoblade Chronicles loads just as it would on the disc. Amazing to see a game this huge run on this SD card. The read speed is high so that's what makes it good. I won't say the best, but it gets the job done. I always use Transcend SD cards with 3DS hacks, and now Wii U.

Are you still using this card with the same results? Thanks

 

[MattKimura]

Are you still using this card with the same results? Thanks

Yes and wow it's still the same price. Go for it, it definitely works.

 

[simbin]

Yes and wow it's still the same price. Go for it, it definitely works.

Comparable PNY Elite is about $10 cheaper but I don't want to risk slow load times. Thanks