USB hard drive

acelister · 11-02-2009, 02:54 PM

Hey all, just wanted to post up and ask a question about my USB hard drive.

I started softmodding 2 weeks ago. "Just Bannerbomb it." said a work colleague. So I did. But then I started to look into it, whilst my backups were downloading. Turns out it's more complicated than that.

As I'd been reading multiple sources, multiple guides and screwing around with multiple cios', I loaded my backup NAND back onto my Wii, taking me back to my "Just Bannerbomb'd" configuration. I went through [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register] (I was on 3.3, so upgraded to 4.1), flipped my Homebrew Channel the right way up (did that ever take me a long time to find the solution...) and... The damned games still don't work fully.

Before reflashing my NAND, I had managed to get burnt DVD-R's to work, but still not my external hard drive. It's an old Laptop HDD inside a 2.5" enclosure (the enclosure isn't on the list of working USB devices), it's plugged into the correct port, the second cable is plugged into the other port (to give it more power)... But when I load up Mario Kart or Mini Ninja's, I can go as far as about to start playing the game, when it just stops. The hard drive light keeps flickering on and off, but the game doesn't come up. It's been on for a couple of minutes, showing the menu's and doing the music, letting me create a save and select a character - but as soon as I try to actually play it - nothing.

I know it's not my Wii, as it plays DVD-R's. 4 different games load fine, 3 play fine. The fourth is Dragon Ball, but I think I know what's wrong with that one.

I figured, if the hard drive of the enclosure were at fault, then the games wouldn't load at all, or it wouldn't let me play emulators from it. This has been driving me mad for two weeks - I had this HDD sat around doing nothing for years now, and finally thought I could put it to some use.

mauifrog · 11-02-2009, 03:03 PM

It is probably the drive, since it came from a laptop it is probably set to spindown very quickly to save power. When this happes on the wii your game crashes. You need to do a seach for a utility that will change the spindown time to never. Portable drives will come with this- you will need to hunt for something. This is my best guess.

What kind of drive is it?

It is also very possible that the drive just isn't compatable, or only partialy. Have a look at the list
[Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register]

acelister · 11-02-2009, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mauifrog

IYou need to do a seach for a utility that will change the spindown time to never. Portable drives will come with this- you will need to hunt for something. This is my best guess.

This sounds like a good idea. I had read about that, but thought that can't be the issue as it's busy reading the game. If I leave it in the menu, it stays working fine.

mauifrog · 11-02-2009, 03:14 PM

Once the wii loads the game menu it stops reading the disk, when this happens your drive will spin down. The time is adjustable and you need it set long enough so the drive does not spin down while playing.

acelister · 11-03-2009, 02:37 PM

I've been looking for ages and can't find the information. Google's usually my friend...

It's a Hitachi Travelstar ic25n060atmr04-0 model. IDE in a Lexcron enclosure. According to the compatibility chart, it works in a Coolpodz enclosure. So, maybe it's my enclosure?