Wasabi DX & D3-2 drive

I have black Wii with serial number LEH5044XXXX.
According to Wii Drive Chip Database (look it over) this is D3 (or D3-2) drive and what I have learned
from this forum (and lots of other places) seems like this drive (D3) is not
able to play any backups.

And this is where confusion starts: according the same Wiidrive database its able to play backups
using either Wasabi DX or DriveKey, exactly the same claim is made on Wasabi homepage.

So my questions are:
1) Is it possible or not to play backups on my Wii using either chips?
2) Is it possible to skip softmod and use hardmod instead with USB loader and external USB drive?

the modchip must somehow be able to bypass the drive chip. this is news to me. never heard of a modchip doing this yet.

if you have a d3-2 then it is not possible (yet).

if you have a d3 then youre oke to go.

check the serial number on the drive circuit board, if it starts with a F its the new D3-2, if it starts with a E its the D3

the serial number is on a yellow sticker