Recently I decided to dust off my old Wii U, and revisit some of my games. However, I was immediately reminded why the console started collecting dust in the first place. In about 2016, I put all my games and saves on a 128GB flash drive. I understand this is not recommended, however it was all I had at the time. Eventually, the drive stopped being recognized by the Wii U. I know the drive is not dead, but all my saves are on it, and many are extremely important to me with multiple 100% saves I would like to revisit (plus, my Mario Maker levels are irreplaceable). Additionally, my Wii U is modded and a lot of important CFW related stuff is on that drive, and it's been so long I don't even remember the name of whatever I would need to redownload or update in order to get it working again. All that being said, is there a way I can somehow recover my data on this flash drive? Obviously I can't access the files on my PC or Wii U, but the drive is still very much alive from what I can tell. If I could just access or extract the save files, that would be enough as I can just redownload my games and then reimport the save files (probably, if I get all that CFW stuff working again). It would be a shame if this wouldn't work out for me, as my Wii U would probably start collecting dust again. Thanks in advance if anyone can help me here, I've spent weeks searching with no answer.
savemii mod, if the wiiu still works. otherwise, you'd need the otp.bin and seeprom iirc to access on your computer, but savemii mod would be better, because it can batch dump your saves to an sd card.
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SaveMii was for the original Wii, plus you can't purchase one anymore.
you can try dumpster U, dumpling, or wfs extract. all three can get into a wiiu hdd. however, you need your otp.bin and seeprom.bin. if you've formatted the system and dumped the seeprom afterwards, you have to roll it back by one, because one of the bytes changes by 1 after every format. there's also a line in hex that changes with each boot up. the last byte might be the right one, just don't remember. @EyeKey and @GaryOderNichts know which one changes in the seeprom.
Thanks for the reply, The Wii U still works, but I don't know how I'd access any homebrew since the actual application/title I used to launch that stuff was saved on my drive, I should be able to redownload that stuff though (IIRC, the CFW I used was haxchi).
Would I be able to access the saves via savemii mod even if the Wii U doesn't recognize the drive in data management? And how would I obtain the files required to access it on my computer?
I'm not sure. you can get the required files now with the dump tool. each is only 1KB, so it will be quick and easy. the only way to access it on pc is with one of those apps. do not initialize it.
btw, your issue is probably caused from using a flash drive. those are hit and miss, and may fail to function eventually. the wiiu's usb ports are very weak. I think it's the only console I know of that requires a y cable for an unpowered hdd. the 360 and ps3 have no problems, unless you try plugging in a hub that's unpowered, and sending power to both devices. that's also a no-no-no with any system actually.
also, whoever said that windows 10 now initializes by default, is incorrect. when I was trying to figure out which of my two drives for the series x was my media hdd for retroarch, I accidentally plugged in the series x formatted hdd by mistake. I had no problems using it on the system after that mistake. I think I even went into disk management, no problems.
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btw, your issue is probably caused from using a flash drive. those are hit and miss, and may fail to function eventually. the wiiu's usb ports are very weak. I think it's the only console I know of that requires a y cable for an unpowered hdd. the 360 and ps3 have no problems, unless you try plugging in a hub that's unpowered, and sending power to both devices. that's also a no-no-no with any system actually.
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also, whoever said that windows 10 now initializes by default, is incorrect. when I was trying to figure out which of my two drives for the series x was my media hdd for retroarch, I accidentally plugged in the series x formatted hdd by mistake. I had no problems using it on the system after that mistake. I think I even went into disk management, no problems.
Last edited by godreborn,
Ah alright, and using one of the mentioned apps (such as DumpsterU) would allow me to extract the save files so I could reimport them later on a different drive? I have an actual external HDD now that works with the Wii U. (Assuming there is some homebrew to reimport saves, I haven't kept up with this stuff lol). Thanks for the quick answers, and apologies for any tedious or dumb questions.
you can inject the saves with savemii mod as well. check if dumpsterU works to extract them. I think it uses a gui unlike wfs extract, so it may be easier to know what your dumping.
And yeah, the flash drive was mostly me being dumb a few years ago. I had nothing else at the time, and went with it even knowing it was unrecommended. And my flash drive has not been reformatted on my PC, it remains completely intact (it never formats without my permission, it always asks and I say no).
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I will attempt this and get back to you if it works. Thanks for the quick replies
I think @GaryOderNichts developed DumpsterU. I've never used it, but I know it can do what you're asking. it may be your only hope. if you haven't formatted the system yet, the seeprom you dump will work from the get-go. just dump them with the dumping app. you won't need an hdd for that, just an sd card.
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