A new update for wafel-usb-partition, the plugin allows us to use USB devices partitioned on Wii U consoles.
This tool is a practical solution to overcome the limitation of the Wii U system, which normally formats the entire USB device in the WFS format, making it impossible to use the same hard disk for both Wii mode and Wii U mode.
Characteristics of
The plugin allows you to configure USB devices with multiple partitions. The first partition can be formatted in FAT32 (ideal for Wii mode and the homebrew channel), while a second or final partition must be formatted into NTFS, which will be recognized by the Wii U as the WFS partition. WFS partitions will be not readable by the
PC. .
Notes
- Mandatory backup: You must save all the data of the disk before use, as there is a risk of data loss during the formatting process.
- Existing WFS partitions cannot be used. In the case of games already installed on a WFS formatted disc, it is recommended to make a backup with tools like SaveMii and reinstall the games later.
SD emulation
A version of the plugin (wafel_usb_partition_sd.ipx) emulates an SD card. In this mode, the first partition of the USB device will be viewed as an SD card from the Wii U.
To use this feature, ISFShax must be started by the SLC and there must be no real SD card.
Installation requirements
- Install ISFShax.
- Copying the file
wafel_usb_partition.ipxin the directorysd:/wiiu/ios_pluginso on SLC in/storage_slc/sys/hax/ios_plugins. . If copied to SLC, rename the file inusbpart.ipxto avoid problems with the long name.
USB Device Partition Guide
- Divide the USB device into two or more partitions:
- The first partition: FAT32 (recommended for use with homebrew).
- The second/last partition: NTFS (to be converted to WFS from the Wii U).
- Use MBR (not GPT).
- Format partitions using tools like GParted on a live Linux distribution (e.g. Ubuntu). Windows Disk management can also be used, but it is less reliable.
Configuration procedure
- Connect the partitioned USB device to the Wii U and start the
- Confirm the formatting message displayed by the Wii U.
- After formatting, turn off the console and check on the PC that the first FAT32 partition is still present. If everything was configured correctly, you can start using the device.
Technical notes
The plugin checks for an MBR on the USB device. If found, the first partition will be ignored, while the other three partition slots will be examined.
The NTFS partition with the highest start lba value will be associated as a USB device. In the SD emulation version, the first partition will be recognized as an SD card by the console.
Changelog
- Apply UMS patches to support 64-bit addressing.
- Apply patches to the PR file to consider only the first partition.
- It supports arbitrary sector size (previously only 512 sectors worked).
Requires stroopwafel update.
This update completes support for units over 2TiB. UMS patch is needed as the 32-bit upper LBA address at 64-bit LBA was ignored, causing a winding after 2TiB and corrupting the start of the unit.
The PR file needs a patch to ignore anything that exceeds 2TiB, otherwise it would refuse to work.
Downloads: v2.0
Download: SD v2.0
Download: Source code v2.0
Source: github.com