So, I understand that using an external drive of any type with Wii U via USB, that drive has to be formatted, and the format or encryption is some proprietary thing specific not just to Wii U but to that particular Wii U. I may be getting details wrong, but effectively, that drive can only be used with that Wii U, and not used by vWii or read by another OS. I understand that's how Nintendo set it up.
But I have a few questions about that. These are the questions of someone who knows basically nothing about this, so they may seem foolish. Anyway. When it comes to SD cards, those don't use that format since they're intended for transmitting other data to other devices. Obviously you can't by default play or install games to an SD card, but you can use it for homebrew, and you use the same one for loading homebrew apps on vWii (although you can also load vWii apps via USB).
So here's kind of where I'm going with this, or part 1 of where I'm going with this. This is really the first consideration, and its own consideration that may have some value even without part 2. Setting aside the amount of work or difficulty that would be required, is it theoretically possible to enable Wii U with custom firmware to read a USB storage device with a more common filesystem format or an unencrypted one, such as formats that work for SD card? I won't go into all the benefits I could see this having, I'm just wondering if this is theoretically possible, and if not then why isn't it possible? I'm interested in learning more about it.
The part 2 of this, if it was possible, would be like... would it be possible by doing this to then use the same external hard drive for vWii? Just theoretically. And if not, what are the reasons that this wouldn't work? Besides just being too much work or not worth the effort -- I'm interested in if it's theoretically possible, how much work it would be is a secondary consideration.
But I have a few questions about that. These are the questions of someone who knows basically nothing about this, so they may seem foolish. Anyway. When it comes to SD cards, those don't use that format since they're intended for transmitting other data to other devices. Obviously you can't by default play or install games to an SD card, but you can use it for homebrew, and you use the same one for loading homebrew apps on vWii (although you can also load vWii apps via USB).
So here's kind of where I'm going with this, or part 1 of where I'm going with this. This is really the first consideration, and its own consideration that may have some value even without part 2. Setting aside the amount of work or difficulty that would be required, is it theoretically possible to enable Wii U with custom firmware to read a USB storage device with a more common filesystem format or an unencrypted one, such as formats that work for SD card? I won't go into all the benefits I could see this having, I'm just wondering if this is theoretically possible, and if not then why isn't it possible? I'm interested in learning more about it.
The part 2 of this, if it was possible, would be like... would it be possible by doing this to then use the same external hard drive for vWii? Just theoretically. And if not, what are the reasons that this wouldn't work? Besides just being too much work or not worth the effort -- I'm interested in if it's theoretically possible, how much work it would be is a secondary consideration.
Don't know the current state and as always with such things: No promises that it will get finished.
