Hardware Wii HD Partition problems

[G0rril4z]

Hi guys! I have an HD (samsung M3 500gb) that used to be partitioned like this:

WBFS (Wii games) /FAT32 (Roms) /NTFS (PC data)

Everything was working fine, but then I converted the WBFS to FAT32 with WBFS2FAT and now its like this:

1. Primary - FAT32: Where my Wii/GC games are.
2. Primary - FAT32: Where all the roms for emulators are.
3. Logical - NTFS: for PC data.

But now the emulators wont recognize the second FAT32 (the one with Roms) partition anymore! Before I converted the WBFS to FAT32 everything was working just fine!

How can I solve this?

 

[G0rril4z]

Help!

 

[GamerzHell9137]

Why are you partitioning an external HDD...?

 

[G0rril4z]

To use a part of it on PC, and also to be more organized, since emulators and roms got a lot of folders. When the HD was WBFS, FAT32 and NTFS it was just fine, but when I converted the WBFS to FAT32, the second FAT32 partition stopped to be recognized... what should I do?

 

[TecXero]

Backup your data from the two FAT32 partitions and then format them to one partition. Most homebrew only recognizes the first FAT32 partition, even then some of them only recognize the first partition, even if they can't use it. You can also put the Wii games on the NTFS partition if you want, most loaders can use NTFS just fine anymore, that way you don't have to worry about splitting.

 

[G0rril4z]

Thanks for the tip TecXero.

I thought that Wii could not support two FAT32 partitions on the same time, but the problem is not the Wii, but that the most homebrew just see the first one, so what I did is: backup all the games from both partition. With EaseUS, formated both, then resized the partitions, letting the 1st one with less space for Roms and Homebrew, and the 2nd one with more space for Wii games, then moved the games back to the HDD. Now it's like FAT32 (Homebrew)/FAT32 (Wii games)/NTFS (PC), and everything is working again, including Nintendont!

 

[mekainz]

Im trying to make a 4TB Western Digital HDD with Fat32 1st primary and active + 2nd WBFS + 3rd WBFS is this possible?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Foxi4]

You don't want to use WBFS, that filesystem has been deprecated. It's strongly recommended that you use FAT32 for all your Wii needs.

 

[TecXero]

Im trying to make a 4TB Western Digital HDD with Fat32 1st primary and active + 2nd WBFS + 3rd WBFS is this possible?
Thanks for any help.

As Foxi4 mentioned, the WBFS filesystem is pretty well dead and shouldn't be used. FAT32 will do everything you need. Some software like USB Loader GX can also use NTFS and EXT2/3/4. No matter what you decide, you should make sure the first partition is using FAT32 as homebrew like Nintendont only use FAT32 and will only look to the first partition. Only use NTFS or EXT2 (EXT3 and EXT4 are also supported but kind of pointless) for Wii backups/ISOs/WBFSs, which is only needed if you don't want to split your backups. If you're fine with splitting them, then FAT32 will serve you fine.

 

[mekainz]

My wiiflow crashes using fat 32 when i launch the games.

 

[Foxi4]

My wiiflow crashes using fat 32 when i launch the games.

You need to erase the old config file for your loader and update cIOS'es. There's no reason for the Wii to freeze when loading from FAT32, it's currently the default file system for hacking and homebrew.

 

[Clutz450]

Im trying to make a 4TB Western Digital HDD with Fat32 1st primary and active + 2nd WBFS + 3rd WBFS is this possible?
Thanks for any help.

I have a 4 TB Western Digital drive also and I have the whole thing formatted to FAT32 using EaseUS Partition Master. I could only format it to 64k clusters but USB Loader GX and Nintendont still worked for me without any issues. I don't use any other homebrew so I don't know what else works with 64k cluster.