Please Help - Issue loading .ISOs onto Hard Drive

[Matt Steiniger]

Hi,

I'm wondering if someone may be able to help me out with an issue I'm having.

I have a Wii with Homebrew, USB Loader GX and WiiFlow. Up until earlier this week I was just backing up discs using USB Loader GX. Everything was going perfectly until I tried to back up my Super Smash Bros Brawl (SSBB) disc - it got stuck at ~85%. I am assuming this is because my hard drive is WBFS (which I think has same max as FAT - ~4GB, as opposed to the larger limit on NTFS.

I've tried a few different things, but with no success.

1. Downloaded SSBB .ISO and tried to transfer onto my HD using WBFS manager (made sure to check setting to separate into two files, since over FAT file size limit) - Did not transfer
2. Downloaded SSBB .WBFS (split into two files) and archived into a single .RAR, tried to transfer onto my HD using WBFS manager - Did not transfer

*In both of these cases, the progress meter completed but the game did not transfer from the right side (files to be added to disc) to the left side with all of the files already on the disc.

3. Downloaded WiiFlow and tried to run the .ISO file directly there (got intro screen for the game prior to starting, but when i started the game it ran Wii Sports Resort).

4. Formatted drive to NTFS (deleting all of discs I've backed up), loaded SSBB .ISO directly onto that and tried to run via WiiFlow - got an error, can look up exact one when I get home


It seems like most games don't exceed the ~4GB threshold for FAT/WBFS, so maybe I should just not choose to back up SSBB and use the disc all the time instead. As I said above, backing up discs works fine as long as they are ~4GB. However, ideally I would have a backup and would probably need to load and run .ISOs in the future for other emulators/roms (SNES, etc.).

Do you have any suggestions? I've heard that "Configurable" loader may be a good solution, but not exactly sure how that would be better.


Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


Matt

I seem to have gotten it working now. Can load iso's and run through "configurable usb loader", but backing up a disc and playing does not work. Also USB Loader GX no longer works for me (hits black screen right away) and WiiFlow doesn't seem to display all of the games on the drive.

So basically all good except for backing up discs (need to do iso's instead, which I don't think is horrible).


Thank you.

[Warrior]

You were dumping discs or converting them for Wii use?

If you wish to dump discs its best to use CleanRip.

That is the best tool for dumping a Wii disc, Gamecube as well.

Download Links:
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[Matt Steiniger]

Thank you for the tip.

I was backing Wii discs up. I just tried Cleanrip but it wouldnt read my WBFS folder.


Matt

You were dumping discs or converting them for Wii use?

If you wish to dump discs its best to use CleanRip.

That is the best tool for dumping a Wii disc, Gamecube as well.

Download Links:
Links are hidden from guests. Please register to be able to view these links.

[Warrior]

Thank you for the tip.

I was backing Wii discs up. I just tried Cleanrip but it wouldnt read my WBFS folder.


Matt

It does not read WBFS, it needs the Flash/HDD to be in NTFS/FAT32

A tool to backup your Gamecube/Wii Discs via IOS58
Create 1:1 backups of your GC/Wii discs for archival purposes without any requirements for custom IOS (cIOS). Supports USB 2.0 / NTFS / FAT32 & Front SD.

This tool is for redumping a disc as in a perfect 1:1 dump of the original media.

[Matt Steiniger]

Thanks. Trying it now. Is a little slow, but if it works it works.

I will let you know once I download if I can play it.

[Warrior]

Thanks. Trying it now. Is a little slow, but if it works it works.

I will let you know once I download if I can play it.

Sorry I forgot to mention yes it is indeed slow but proper dumping is not a fast process, haste makes waste.

[Zorlon]

Late response, so sorry about that

Best all round drive format is Fat32 with 32 clusters (done via external software instead of windows internal format tools)

both good dumping software for the Wii and good windows Wii software managers will split games larger than 4GB games into 2 files but good USB Loaders read those as a single disc image

[Matt Steiniger]

Thanks for the heads-up. What is a good external HD formatter as opposed to the windows tool?

Now I have two of the .ISOs I pulled from this site downloaded and running on my NTFS -> WBFS hard drive. However, the latest one I've downloaded from here (Mario Kart Wii) is not working. I think will try to download another game .ISO to see if this is an issue with the specific Mario Kart Wii .ISO, or if my hard drive is not able to play new .ISOs.

FYI - The program I am using on my Wii to play the WBFS's (at least I think that is what they are, since I am loading .ISOs to a WBFS formatted drive) is "configurable loader". USB Loader GX is not working for me anymore and WiiFlow doesn't read the files from the WBFS external HD.

I've also heard that USB3.0 external hard drives are not the best to use with Wii, so maybe that is part of the problem? I'm using a Western Digital 3910B.

Overall, am just trying to get to a place where I can put all of the .ISOs on one drive and play them. Ideally would like to backup actual discs to that same drive, but open to using a second for that if totally needed.


Thanks again.

Late response, so sorry about that

Best all round drive format is Fat32 with 32 clusters (done via external software instead of windows internal format tools)

both good dumping software for the Wii and good windows Wii software managers will split games larger than 4GB games into 2 files but good USB Loaders read those as a single disc image

[Zorlon]

Whatever comes with ModMii (The best all round tool to mod a Wii and update it all to have the last updated drivers) also comes with a formatting tool (better than any guide as this downloads the updated files you need)

Or you can use EaseUS Partition Master - Home Edition that is great HDD managing software, though a little overkill for this, it is still very good at formatting with custom settings and is free for home use

[Matt Steiniger]

Awesome - thank you. I used these videos. Maybe will check out modMii, but dont really want to re-do everything if I dont have to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m70dCXkn1CE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKPEgwbCFa8

Whatever comes with ModMii (The best all round tool to mod a Wii and update it all to have the last updated drivers) also comes with a formatting tool (better than any guide as this downloads the updated files you need)

Or you can use EaseUS Partition Master - Home Edition that is great HDD managing software, though a little overkill for this, it is still very good at formatting with custom settings and is free for home use

[Zorlon]

If you have any issues with your current setup. modmii can be used as an update cios's / fix issues anyway

It is mostly automated and generally installs everything in one shot instead of individual installs, so it is made easy to use and faster than a manual mod

At least you are using a good loader anyway though, saying that it depends on the version as the official stable release is somewhat out of date and many of the features in the latest version are not included in the stable release that is very old now

(The USB Loader is not something that would of been included with ModMii though it does include a nice USB loader forwarder channel that works fine with USB Loader GX, saves going into that silly Homebrew channel or using a a full USB Loader Channel that is not a great idea as updating the loader channel is not as simple as updating the dol file that the forwarder looks for)

[Matt Steiniger]

Thanks - I will give ModMii a try. I kind of want to see if using a different Mario Kart .ISO will work, before going this far back to the drawing board, but this looks like a good approach. I found a tutorial on Youtube, so will check that out. Hopefully will not be too hard to do on top of what I already have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnFkZkEhBjI


Matt

If you have any issues with your current setup. modmii can be used as an update cios's / fix issues anyway

It is mostly automated and generally installs everything in one shot instead of individual installs, so it is made easy to use and faster than a manual mod

At least you are using a good loader anyway though, saying that it depends on the version as the official stable release is somewhat out of date and many of the features in the latest version are not included in the stable release that is very old now

(The USB Loader is not something that would of been included with ModMii though it does include a nice USB loader forwarder channel that works fine with USB Loader GX, saves going into that silly Homebrew channel or using a a full USB Loader Channel that is not a great idea as updating the loader channel is not as simple as updating the dol file that the forwarder looks for)

[Zorlon]

Just so you know ModMii actually creates a custom guide for the setup you select anyway

[Matt Steiniger]

Thanks. The I did a modmii on my wii and now is working great. This newer version of WiiFlow is much better than the one I had before as well.
I'm able to load discs and .ISO files onto my external hd.

Thanks again.

Just so you know ModMii actually creates a custom guide for the setup you select anyway

[Zorlon]

I still use USB Loader GX but it will be a much newer version to what you had

It comes down to taste at the end of the day though, GX can be a bit complex for some to setup anyway though

Glad you got that running smoothly though