Multiple USB drives in Wii

I'm finally back (Xbox 360 does miracles for you if you have a Wii :)

Anyway, yesterday I finally bought myself another USB stick (SanDisk Cruzer 2.0 8GB) to store more homebrew apps on. I was wondering if I can have both USB drives plugged into the Wii at the same time without frying my Wii or USBs. Also, does it have to be formatted to FAT32? I saw some other file systems I'd like to try like NTFS or WBFS.

WBFS = crap. it is an outdated "file system" (not even a real file system really) used by outdated warez loaders and nothing else. don't talk about it here again.

NTFS is supported in some apps, but not HBC.

You should have no problems with having 2 USB devices plugged in, but I'm not sure if apps will work with both at once or just the first one registered.

Registered? I wanted both plugged into the Wii at the same time so I could transfer and grab files from both.

I mean whichever the app "notices" first. Like I said, I don't know how it works, I have never tried it. This is just speculation that (some) apps might only work with whichever drive they find first and ignore a second one.

To reiterate what Sifjar was saying about WBFS, it's only used as a filesystem to play backups which isn't condoned here. So it won't be of help to you. As for multiple USB drives, you would be better off using your computer to transfer files back and forth. I can't think of any Wii apps that allow files to be transferred like that and most apps will only pay attention to the USB port closest to the outside edge of the Wii. This is due to port numbering. Some will allow you to put a USB drive into either port, but they'll only pay attention to one and stop looking for others once it finds the first. In short, the answer is that one hasn't been coded as of yet as far as we know. It can be, but we haven't attempted it yet. I sort of want to now since it would probably be faster than using Windows as there aren't any background processes to slow it down. I could buffer it and add a verify option. Hmm...

That stuff about the ports is rubbish. Apps that use a cios with a hacked in USB2 module can only use the outer port, because the cios "authors" weren't clever enough to implement hotplugging and pass non mass storage devices to the USB1 module. Proper homebrew apps that use official IOS can use either port, when they look for devices they iterate through a list provided to them by IOS which typically sorts into the order that they were connected.

If you want an app that can copy from one USB drive to another try wiixplorer.

Sorry that I might not have been clear. Say for instance I have FCEUGX on one USB stick and the ROMs on the other. Would I be able to read/get the games from the other USB stick?

Test it and see. I think that's one of tantric's emulators, and his apps are usually well written. They use IOS58, so there's no problem with using either port, and I'd guess they could probably access both.

It won't work. The default usbstorage device driver only handles one device, same goes for libfat unless it is explicitly given a device and starting sector for a partition to mount.

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tueidj
It won't work. The default usbstorage device driver only handles one device, same goes for libfat unless it is explicitly given a device and starting sector for a partition to mount.

*scratches head* Huh? I thought sectors were only for DVD and CDs and each USB drive counts as a partition?

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SifJar
WBFS = crap. it is an outdated "file system" (not even a real file system really) used by outdated warez loaders and nothing else. don't talk about it here again.

I see here and there such dumb statements about WBFS that it's dead, etc. Young dorks not having real IT experience try to pretend wise and smart and say something they have no real knowledge of. The common idiom among dilettantes about WBFS' death is, in fact, a lie! WBFS is alive and sound and that's obvious because it is well designed for special use with Wii ISO dumps. And it *is* used in every USB loader (even when the outer filesystem is not WBFS). Obviously, having any extra layers in disk storage influences performance and reliability. Thus, FAT32 or NTFS filesystem is for misc use cases *and* for lamers, who have no skill to use WBFS correctly...

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sigil

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SifJar
WBFS = crap. it is an outdated "file system" (not even a real file system really) used by outdated warez loaders and nothing else. don't talk about it here again.

I see here and there such dumb statements about WBFS that it's dead, etc. Young dorks not having real IT experience try to pretend wise and smart and say something they have no real knowledge of. The common idiom among dilettantes about WBFS' death is, in fact, a lie! WBFS is alive and sound and that's obvious because it is well designed for special use with Wii ISO dumps. And it *is* used in every USB loader (even when the outer filesystem is not WBFS). Obviously, having any extra layers in disk storage influences performance and reliability. Thus, FAT32 or NTFS filesystem is for misc use cases *and* for lamers, who have no skill to use WBFS correctly...

Regardless of any use of WBFS and how 'great' it is, this forum does not support or condone USB Loaders and as such, for the purposes of this forum, WBFS should never be used. Of course anyone can go research and set it up correctly if they want to but we will not advise it. I hope you understand that, thank you.

I think sigil should be banned because 1. Talking about things against the rules 2. being extremely rude to a moderator. 3. ignoring warnings.

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UK777
I think sigil should be banned because 1. Talking about things against the rules 2. being extremely rude to a moderator. 3. ignoring warnings.

I don't see any warnings being ignored. Considering this is his only post, and he hasn't posted anything since, let alone anything breaking the rules, there is absolutely no cause for a ban, and it's really not up to you anyway.