Hacking Wii NAND explanation

[pubert09]

I dumped my Wii's NAND using FSToolbox and I was wondering if anyone could explain what all the directories are and what is located where on the NAND.
Any help would be great. Thanks!

 

[ChokeD]

I'm sure others could explain what EXACTLY each folder is used for during the process of the nand being used but while you wait for a valid answer to your question you could always open your nand and take a look at it with showmiiwads and attempt to put 2 and 2 together. It gives you the title and path/folders that the ios are found and a whole lot more. It might be worth your while to check it out.

Go to the options tab and change nand backup path to the folder where your nand folder is found.

Hope that helped a little while you wait.

 

[Pippin666]

Exploration and curisosity is ALWAYS the best way to learn.

Pip'

 

[Szalkow]

Typical NAND contents and what they include, based on what I've found:

* import: not sure. All my dumps had nothing in this folder.
* meta: metadata. Contains hardware descriptions and names of system components.
* shared1: seems to contain various system drivers and libraries.
* shared2: seems to contain setup data and logfiles, as well as data for some Wii stuff such as WC24 and Miis.
* sys: seems to contain some short-term system info. For example, the last disc loaded is recorded in here.
* ticket: contains records of what channels and DLC are installed.
* title: what we care about most. Contains the System Menu, IOSes, channels, and data.

Within title and tickets, the following folders are common:
* 00000001: system stuff. Contains System Menu, IOSes, MIOS, and other stuff.
* 00010000: save data. You can figure out what is what by entering any of the subfolders, then the data folder, and then opening the banner.bin in a hex editor to see the save title.
* 00010001: Nintendo channels, Wiiware and Virtual Console. As with save data, examining the banner.bin lets you see what's what.
* 00010002: more Nintendo Channels, such as Weather and Photo.
* 00010004: special WC24 channels, such as the Mario Kart channel.
* 00010005: game DLC. If you mess around with Rock Band DLC and stuff, this is where it ends up.
* 00010008: magic/technical stuff - stub and hidden channels such as DVDx are typically kept here, as well as Nintendo's EULA and Region Select.

Results may vary from Wii to Wii, and your Wii may have stuff that's not listed. Take a gander through your FS dumps (helps if you've got a hex editor to view raw .apps and .bins) and see what you find. If you're smart, you can even clean up your NAND dump without using ShowMiiWads.

 

[ChokeD]

Good info Szalkow, +1 on the response attempt.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

* 00010008: magic stuff - stub channels such as DVDx are typically kept here.

I like magic stuff, but it's actually "hidden" channels. That's why DVDx is installed there.

 

[Szalkow]

* 00010008: magic stuff - stub channels such as DVDx are typically kept here.

I like magic stuff, but it's actually "hidden" channels. That's why DVDx is installed there.

That's what I'm implying. Hidden channels used by the homebrew community ("magic" if you enjoy the parlance) go there.
Frankly, I'm amazed Nintendo never just checks Wiis for a 00010008 folder in their piracy removal.

 

[Slimmmmmm]

We should have a topic like this and have the uid files etc and miis stuff, but I'm too lazy myself erm busy myself

It would be cool though, if it listed the setting, messages and all the other stuff I cant think of just now.

 

[tueidj]

It would be epic fail to assume the existence of that directory (/title/00010008) indicated homebrew, since their own channels use it (EULA and Region Select).

 

[Szalkow]

It would be epic fail to assume the existence of that directory (/title/00010008) indicated homebrew, since their own channels use it (EULA and Region Select).

True, forgot about those. They don't show in my NAND dump so it was easy to neglect them. A simple perusal of the NUSD database would have prevented my goof.

Edited my other post to appropriately address that directory.

There's still a lot I personally don't know about the NAND so if anyone wants to fill in gaps, go for it.

 

[tj_cool]

It would be epic fail to assume the existence of that directory (/title/00010008) indicated homebrew, since their own channels use it (EULA and Region Select).

Can't they just check if there are other channels there then?

 

[WiiCrazy]

It would be epic fail to assume the existence of that directory (/title/00010008) indicated homebrew, since their own channels use it (EULA and Region Select).

I have wad manager and any title deleter there

 

[GartimusPrime]

can I swap the "Title" folder from one Nand to another and have it work with the new nand?

 

[Taleweaver]

Not by itself. The other wii won't be able to run it because the tickets will be missing. So you'll need to swap that folder around as well.

But still...I'd prefer using showmiiwads to pack whatever is installed on that emu-nand to wads and install those wads on another wii.

 

[flo]

This will help http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=265143&hl=nand