Wii U Internal Storage Upgrades are possible

[SDIO]

@GerbilSoft I want to update my Wii U in the database #1326. But it says it's already uploaded and doesn't update the entry. Can you add an option to update the entry or maybe just delete my old entry?

 

[Valery0p]

Spoiler

I'm having an orgasm

Your console must be de_Fused, which also means switching SD cards during boot if you want more than 2GB SD space

@shinyquagsire23 said we can flash the modified boot1 to the SLCCMPT instead, with no repercussions for vWii, so there's basically no downside for this mod

(screenshot because twitter is fucking dying lmao)

Thank, thank thank you very much to everyone involved!


Btw I think there was a limit on the number of titles you can display on the main menu, so maybe if it can't be patched (and if it breaks system updates) it might be easier to expose several external drives to IOSU, with a setting to switch between them on boot.

My goodness I'm so excited!


(Also if you don't want to touch your SLC you could technically simulate the plain SD card with the same Raspberry to upload the very small boot1, we had some discussions with Shiny on twitter about that...)

(Just in case, how much of an hassle would it be if you wanted to use your blu ray drive again?)

 

[Lazr1026]

my turn!

 

[SDIO]

Spoiler

I'm having an orgasm

@shinyquagsire23 said we can flash the modified boot1 to the SLCCMPT instead, with no repercussions for vWii, so there's basically no downside for this mod

View attachment 381367
(screenshot because twitter is fucking dying lmao)

Wow that makes it even better

Btw I think there was a limit on the number of titles you can display on the main menu, so maybe if it can't be patched (and if it breaks system updates) it might be easier to expose several external drives to IOSU, with a setting to switch between them on boot.

I personal don't care too much about that limit, it seems more like a hoarder problem to me, but who I am to judge.

I could imagine with the right patches you could partiton the internal storage and have multiple mlcs, that you could select in minute. With disabled scfm we get also rid of all the headaches it was causing - this stupid thing didn't even improve performance, but actually makes it worse in some cases. Without SCFM titles install twice as fast!

Just in case, how much of an hassle would it be if you wanted to use your blu ray drive again?

If you replace the eMMC with a bigger SD you can keep the Disc Drive. But on the eMMC bus IOSU natively only supports 64GB, so for everything bigger you need defuse to apply some patches.
The nice thing about replacing the DIsc Drive with a SSD/HDD is, that IOSU there nativly supports up to 2TB without patches. So you only need defuse for the setup but can then run without defuse. Also scfm doesn't interfere with the SATA devices.

 

[tmnr1992]

I think I'm not grasping the full scope of this, we can just plug an external HDD and achieve the same result, the only difference being that it won't show up as internal memory. Very cool stuff regardless, the Wii U homebrew scene continues to amaze.

 

[Lazr1026]

@tmnr1992 some people dont like to have a hard drive external of the console

 

[Valery0p]

I could imagine with the right patches you could partiton the internal storage and have multiple mlcs, that you could select in minute. With disabled scfm we get also rid of all the headaches it was causing - this stupid thing didn't even improve performance, but actually makes it worse in some cases. Without SCFM titles install twice as fast!

Yeah either that or multiple "virtual" USB drives, but without the USB 2.0 speed limit. (answering to @tmnr1992 )
Glad to know it's already showing better performances! Do you have any benchmark?

Also if I'm going to need to open my console and replace my eMMC and/or disc drive, I don't see why I wouldn't want to install de_Fuse Btw someone even made a solder-less install:


Btw, please let us know if you can share the various nand formatting/recovery tools + source code if possible, there are several users with dead MLCs and even dead SLCs who installed de-fuse over the months, but are still in limbo without the right tools.

 

[chronoss]

Super bon boulot, waiting for this....

 

[GerbilSoft]

@GerbilSoft I want to update my Wii U in the database #1326. But it says it's already uploaded and doesn't update the entry. Can you add an option to update the entry or maybe just delete my old entry?

I haven't added CID history yet, so it won't be able to update yet. Will take a look at doing that sometime this week.

 

[fvig2001]

Ooh, hope this stabilizes because I hate not having enough USB ports. Like I already hate having to use a powered USB hub just to be able to have 2 HDDs, gamecube adapter and a rockband controller for Wii.

 

[VinsCool]

Very impressive, I would never have expected to see this kind of stuff possible.

My poor 8GB WiiU would thank you very much for sure when this becomes more accessible to end users!

 

[Ettino]

I think I'm not grasping the full scope of this,

This project started as a way to revive dead Wii Us by replacing the corrupted nand with a sd card. In the beginning you were limited to 8 & 32gb and for awhile the devs thought this was a hard cap put in by Nintendo. Obviously, this is no longer the case.

Of course, for folks like yourself, you won't see any benefit from this. But for people that waiting to fix the console as well as modders that looking to do more tinkering, this is huge.

 

[QuarkTheAwesome]

When it comes to the Sata adapter boards, will there be a parts list or are they going to be sold ready made?

It's not done yet; but I'm planning on tidying up the board a bit, switching in a FPC connector that has a real part number, then making it all OSHW. That said I'll probably also do some occasional runs for those who don't want to tackle that soldering job.

Btw, please let us know if you can share the various nand formatting/recovery tools + source code if possible, there are several users with dead MLCs and even dead SLCs who installed de-fuse over the months, but are still in limbo without the right tools.

"tools" is a bit of an overstatement, it's more like "one de_Fuse payload to format, another to install all the titles, then UDPIH to trigger a factory reset, then a third de_Fuse payload to actually boot the console up". It likes to crash a lot during the factory reset

It should improve pretty fast though.

 

[jeffyTheHomebrewer]

GOOD LORD

 

[CMDreamer]

It's not done yet; but I'm planning on tidying up the board a bit, switching in a FPC connector that has a real part number, then making it all OSHW. That said I'll probably also do some occasional runs for those who don't want to tackle that soldering job.

"tools" is a bit of an overstatement, it's more like "one de_Fuse payload to format, another to install all the titles, then UDPIH to trigger a factory reset, then a third de_Fuse payload to actually boot the console up". It likes to crash a lot during the factory reset

It should improve pretty fast though.

Can I assume that we might be able to run our own payloads to do some specific stuff?

Also, can this be applied to a non booting/starting Wii U without a NAND backup?

Thanks a lot for your time!

 

[chrisrlink]

time to dust off my wii U again

 

[V10lator]

Also, can this be applied to a non booting/starting Wii U without a NAND backup?

Yes, that's one of the things making this so big: We're able to format/bootstrap completely whiped eMMCs with this.

 

[QuarkTheAwesome]

Yes, that's one of the things making this so big: We're able to format/bootstrap completely whiped eMMCs with this.

Still need a good SLC at time of writing.

 

[NandoLawson]

Sounds great. I've always been annoyed by the Wii U for not having enough internal storage. Would it theoretically be possible to use the internal storage for vWii too?

 

[ploggy]

It's not done yet; but I'm planning on tidying up the board a bit, switching in a FPC connector that has a real part number, then making it all OSHW. That said I'll probably also do some occasional runs for those who don't want to tackle that soldering job.

"tools" is a bit of an overstatement, it's more like "one de_Fuse payload to format, another to install all the titles, then UDPIH to trigger a factory reset, then a third de_Fuse payload to actually boot the console up". It likes to crash a lot during the factory reset

It should improve pretty fast though.

Cool, whatever you decide, OSHW or a run I'll pick one up
Good job!