Wii Warm Up: Back that data up

by Candace Savino { Apr 12th 2008 at 10:30AM }

We know that a lot of you are running out of space on your Wiis, and many of you are using SD cards. We're curious, though, as to whether or not you like to back up your save files on them.

Because we're paranoid, and terrified of losing hours worth of data in games like Fire Emblem if our Wiis ever kick the bucket, we usually tend to put our files on our SD cards, for ~~piece~~ peace of mind. What about you? Are you equally as paranoid? And does it freak anyone else out that you can't back up your Brawl data? DOES IT?!? (Deep breath.)

Tags: back-up, game-saves, save, sd-card

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Brian @ Apr 12th 2008 10:39AM

I don't backup my saves.

this is because how can i loose them? it isn't like i can "accidentally" format my wii or go in and delete saves.

You wii can't kick the bucket.

I have no younger brothers/sisters so my save data is fine :P

Salinus @ Apr 12th 2008 10:03PM

Actually my friend's Wii just died last week. It won't even boot up.

Brian @ Apr 13th 2008 11:09AM

Sucks to be him then :P

raindog @ Apr 14th 2008 11:36PM

I do have a younger brother; he is a state trooper about 1200 miles away and I've seen him once in the last 10 years. So I think my Wii is pretty immune to him unless I were to visit his state and stuff my Wii full of drugs while speeding and running red lights.

What concerns me about the Wii is that I've already had to send it back to Nintendo once for the laser diode blowing up (not Brawl related) and I'm pretty sure it's not guaranteed that you'll get the same one back if the problem's bad enough. It's not the RROD by any means but it's definitely possible to lose your save games by other means than sibling abuse.

Bussani @ May 11th 2008 1:53AM

What do you mean 'your Wii can't kick the bucket'? You think they're immortal? On the whole a Wii might die less than something like a 360, but no hard drive lasts forever. It's inevitable that one day, even if it's years from now, the hard drive will wear out and all your non-backed up data will be gone. Or I suppose your Wii could get hit by a power surge and fried, or the hard drive could accidentally get scratched.

In short, any number of things can go wrong with any piece of hard ware like this. Your Wii may be fine for years, or something might cause it to break tomorrow. In most cases it's probably not a big deal, but I do wish I could back up my Mario Kart Wii license so I don't have to unlock everything all over again.

Roto13 @ Apr 12th 2008 10:42AM

I'm sure there will be a Brawl save online at some point that has everything unlocked in it.

Brian @ Apr 12th 2008 11:07AM

Nobody can copy a brawl save to a SD Card (some sort of protection on the save) therefore there will be no brawl saves online

Roto13 @ Apr 12th 2008 11:09AM

Tell that to Guitar Hero III.

Brian @ Apr 12th 2008 11:11AM

What do you mean?

Roto13 @ Apr 12th 2008 11:12AM

I mean Guitar Hero III saves can't be copied under normal means either, but there are still GH III saves floating around online.

Kenology @ Apr 12th 2008 11:33AM

I'm very paranoid about save data. I'm a chronic saver in-game (saving at every opportunity or after any major [or even minor] event) and I always back up my saves on SD cards. I have completed save files of games copied to my SD cards just in case. It's always important to back up save files.

Charles @ Apr 12th 2008 11:45AM

I would be paranoid had I been allowed to back the saves of the BIG games. Sadly you can't with quite a number of games on Wii which is very VERY annoying, so I stopped doing it all together...

grammar police @ Apr 12th 2008 11:46AM

... that is peace of mind, not "piece". i feel better.

I Love Bowser @ Apr 12th 2008 11:57AM

Well done douchebag.

grammar police @ Apr 12th 2008 12:05PM

Glad to help! PS - it's douche bag, not douchebag.

I Love Bowser @ Apr 12th 2008 12:08PM

douchebag is a noun because it's your name, douchebag

grammar police @ Apr 12th 2008 12:21PM

Yes, you win. My real name is Douchebag.

I Love Bowser @ Apr 12th 2008 12:39PM

No, it's douchebag.

Douchebag (it's my real name!) @ Apr 12th 2008 12:44PM

No... not actually. If it's a proper noun, such as a name, then it is Douchebag. Please take notes, this may come up on your 3rd grade proficiency test.

I Love Bowser @ Apr 12th 2008 12:59PM

I'm fully aware of that, but you don't deserve proper capitalisation: douchebag.

I Love Bowser is fully aware @ Apr 12th 2008 1:13PM

Ok... I can't keep this up anymore. Again, I concede to you "I Love Bowser". You win!

This is my last comment for the day, then you can keep replying in all your "fully aware" splendid glory.

That would be "capitalization", not capitalisation.

I wish you nothing but the best of luck at life.

Yours truly,
Douchebag

thethirdmoose @ Apr 12th 2008 4:52PM

Actually, it would be
"I concede to you COMMA "I Love Bowser"...

Brian @ Apr 12th 2008 12:42PM

Give it a rest.

Chyld989 @ Apr 12th 2008 1:18PM

I back everything up not because I'm paranoid, but in case I suddenly want to go over to a friends' house (or out into the living room on my parents' Wii) and play one of my saved games from there.

Mr Khan @ Apr 12th 2008 2:40PM

I did with my GameCube saves, once i got my USB Memory card i saved them as a GC Batch Save file, with a separate Melee save that planned on distributing at some point

However, i've never really gotten around to it with my Wii

Also: Why Mia to represent Radiant Dawn? Everyone knows Jill is the best character in that game ;)

Haohmaru @ Apr 12th 2008 3:31PM

I have yet to start RD, but I know Jill and Mia from Path of Radiance. In that game, I can honestly say I preferred Mia. At least until I got Zihark - he was pretty much all I needed for all of my Swordmastery needs.

As for the topic, I would gouge my eyes out with a splintered popsicle stick if I had lost all of my FE:PoR Hard data. Starting a game like that all over again from the beginning is no fun at all.

Mr Khan @ Apr 12th 2008 6:25PM

I've never been to keen on Myrmidon/Swordmaster/TrueBlade at all, really, Ike always provided all my sword needs

They improved them quite a bit for RD, most of 'em can take a hit now

Wiitard @ Apr 12th 2008 3:25PM

I got my Wii on release day so I always back up all my data saves/VC games/ channels.

Some games don't let you do this, such as Mario Kart Wii which annoys me.

Croove55 @ Apr 12th 2008 3:28PM

The only thing I use SD storage for is additional brawl data. Screenshots and the like. Not to worried about my Wii frying.

Also, 9 off topic posts in a row? Please get the hell off of NWF, you bickering little twits.

RayCleveland @ Apr 12th 2008 3:35PM

I wish I backed things up. Just got my Wii back this week from a repair for a problem that a disc read error and update that was caused by a Brawl disc when I bought it. I lost it all. And worse yet, they didn't do a lens cleanup for me when it was in the shop. All I got was a "how to clean a disc" instruction paper. I know this is rare but it still sucks. Painful picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/raycleveland/2332778588/ .

Timerider @ Apr 12th 2008 4:01PM

Yeah, there are a bunch of games that don't let you copy save files. My cousin fully completed Melee so I copied his file. If he completes everything in Brawl I want to copy that too. (Who the hell can beat anything in Cruel Brawl, anyway? He might, though.)

TheWarlock @ Apr 12th 2008 4:41PM

Beat SSE couple days back, so I just mainly use my SD card for saving stages and replays [got 2000ft+ with yoshi], you know, stuff like that.

Never saw the point in putting game saves to my card if it wasn't for something important [almost holy] like Brawl.

Michael Beck @ Apr 12th 2008 5:51PM

I learned about backing up saved data the hard way. My 4-year-old plays the Wii more than I do, and the kid is a wiz with it. He's also too smart for his own good.

While exploring in the Wii one day he decided to format the Wii memory to see what happens. We lost all of our Miis, our pictures, and our saved games that were on there.

I don't even want to think about the hours of effort lost on Excitetruck and Zelda: TP. Of course the loss didn't phase my son until he saw our entire collection of Mario Party 8 figurines were gone.

I will be an avid data backup fan from this moment forward!

Genome4824 @ Apr 12th 2008 8:00PM

I Lost my Wii to Power Cancer Dec 2006. I shipped it into nintendo and they got it to me December 24th just in time for christmas i was so happy.

but I ALWAYS backup to SD now when i make good progress. It's a MUST!

yanipheonu @ Apr 12th 2008 8:24PM

Mia!!!

Fav character from Fire Emblem.

Spin44 @ Apr 12th 2008 8:37PM

ive never backed anything up on the wii

TheOverlord#2(Toon Link FTW)(1461-5875-9923) @ Apr 12th 2008 9:04PM

Wii: 850
SD: 7707

Only thing on my SD card is Brawl stuff, and i'm not to worried about my Wii randomly frying.

What I am worried about is storage. How will 850 blocks hold MKWii, Okami, Strong Bad CG4AP 1-5, and other stuff!(make that 9 1/3 offtopic posts >_>)

XDragon @ Apr 13th 2008 10:56AM

I back up significant saves but i don't regularly backup my saves on the Wii. For ex. I backed up Mario Party once all the mini games were unlocked and House Of The Dead when all the extra lives and continues were unlocked but I never backed them up before that.

Majkiboy @ Apr 13th 2008 4:33PM

I also learned backing up the hard way.. with the GC... the lousy card broke and I lost about 10 different savegames :(

So now I'm carefull and since SD memory cards cost less than ur average peanut.. why not?

used cisco @ Apr 14th 2008 8:48AM

@Mr. Kahn,

"I did with my GameCube saves, once i got my USB Memory card i saved them as a GC Batch Save file"

Is there a USB card that works with the Gamecube? I have some gamecube saves I'd like to backup (with a non-gamecube memory card if possible).

Any help would be appreciated!