Waninkoko's Wii USB loader demoed
by Xav de Matos 
{ Mar 30th 2009 at 9:00PM }
While the software isn't currently available, a pre-release version has ironically been leaked but is said to be unusable for the time being. However, footage of the software in action (found after the break) shows the current release does work. Of course, as our sister site Engadget notes, we are inching up on April Fool's Day so the entire thing could really be too good to be true. But all signs from forum crawlers point to Waninkoko's software as the real deal.
[Via Engadget]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
NoughtSoClever @ Mar 30th 2009 9:16PM
This is just what I was needing for my legitimate use of my Wii.
nnahas @ Mar 30th 2009 9:34PM
Yes, I was concerned I couldn't legitimately back up my games and play them legitimately.
Havok @ Mar 31st 2009 4:19PM
It's like a tsunami of sarcasm.
CnEY?! @ Mar 30th 2009 9:46PM
So now I'm sure everyone's praising waninkoko yet again, even though marcan proved for the heck of it that the backbone of something like this tool can be assembled in a matter of 6 hours, rather than 20+ days.
http://hackmii.com/2009/03/my-6-hour-trip-to-the-dark-side/
And let me guess - now that it's been "leaked", waninkoko will go on a huge b*tchfest and say he's stopping development. Just like he did when the same thing happened to his previous, from-disc backup loader.
MechaBouncer @ Mar 31st 2009 4:55PM
I was thinking the same thing when I read this. Got to love marcan's rant on the subject.
maduin @ Mar 31st 2009 10:14PM
marcan needs to stop being a bitch and start competing ala microsoft vs apple.
team twiizers came up with the wonderful homebrew channel which has a beautiful interface. Everything that waninkoko comes up with is highly functional but lacks any aesthetic beauty. These apps are going to find their way to the public with ease, and team twiizers needs to stop hoarding all the knowledge and share their talent with the public, just like waninkoko is doing.
They could easily give him some competition buy programming something that is both easy on the eyes and easy to use. Waninkoko is talented and his releases make me jump for joy, but he lacks the style needed to make a "beautiful" product. Sure it works, but it's kind of ugly to look at.
LokeSTL @ Mar 30th 2009 9:59PM
If I can buy a VC game on one Wii, save it to a usb, then play it on my other Wii, I'll buy it in a heartbeat. Otherwise, blah....
devriley @ Mar 31st 2009 12:40PM
Joystiq's a bit off the ball... Waninkoko released the full version today.
Ninbrendo @ Mar 30th 2009 11:02PM
"...a pre-release version has been ironically been leaked..."
Face @ Mar 31st 2009 2:00AM
its released officially already and works fine. backed up pokemon battle revolution in 5 minutes
esposch @ Mar 31st 2009 2:16AM
Xav again....
What is your obsession with teaching us how to pirate!?
RockMan_Forte @ Mar 31st 2009 2:25AM
You'll wish you had copies when the Wii dvd lens dies.
Josh @ Mar 31st 2009 12:33PM
If you don't learn here, you might believe anything the other kids tell you. It's probably best to learn from your parents or a teacher or a close relative who... .....
...oh.
ZeroNow @ Mar 31st 2009 4:55AM
I don't understand why there's no sound, and if I turn my speaker volume up I can faintly hear tapping on a keyboard?? Anyone else with me? If this is legit then it is amazing. If it's another trick then I am ashamed of waninkoko!!!
grupstra @ Mar 31st 2009 6:45AM
This is legit. went to demonoid, downloaded it, had it installed and running wii sports backup within 10 minutes. Now backing up all of my games so I can travel easier without packing all the discs. Amazing app.
maduin @ Mar 31st 2009 7:37AM
this app works wonderfully and will only get better as it goes. Plug in your USB HDD, format it with the app, load your Wii disc and tell it to back it up, SSBB took 30 minutes, Wii Sports and Boom Blox took less than 10. An added bonus is that it practically eliminates all load time in games since it uses USB 2.0, which can read much faster than the 6x DVD drive in your Wii. Sure, there is still minute load time, but this speeds things up by nearly 75%.
Home @ Mar 31st 2009 2:29PM
Maudin,
Could you tell me how to backup wii games please?
knokio@@aol.com
Home @ Mar 31st 2009 2:31PM
Maudin,
Could you tell me how to backup wii games please?
knokio@@aol.com
maduin @ Mar 31st 2009 10:10PM
first of all, you can't even spell my name correctly, second of all you're using AOL, third of all... no. learn to google correctly.
Windmill @ Mar 31st 2009 8:25AM
Whats hilarious, is that a good chunk of these comments are ACTUALLY about using this software for legitimately bought and backed-up games.
Not that its bad to do that. But still.
kevin @ Mar 31st 2009 9:38AM
For anyone concerned about piracy: just think of this as iTunes for your Wii.
Purpose of iTunes: rip your CDs to a central location (your computer), so you can keep everything organized in one easily accessible place.
Purpose of HD loader: rip your games to a central location (USB drive), so you can keep everything organized in one central place.
Yes, of course people are going to use this for illegal purposes - but really, this is a tremendous tool for taking your purchased game collection and consolidating it to one convenient location. Especially great if you have kids or alcoholic roommates.
BebopFox @ Mar 31st 2009 9:48AM
Has anyone been able to backup games with some bad scratches? My SSBB has an unfortunate scratch that won't let me get paste the cinema scene where Samus finds Pikachu (story mode) and would like to know if backing the game up (if possible with this scratch) would fix this problem before I decide to go out and spend money on a usb HDD.
Dreganfyre @ Mar 31st 2009 9:59AM
This actually sounds pretty cool. I have no interest in pirating, and I really don't mind switching disks... but between maduin noting that there's almost no load time, and RockMan_Forte's point about the DVD lens failing (always the first to go, of course), this is starting to sound like a really good idea. I sometimes feel a little uneasy when I can hear how hard the DVD drive is working... :)
Hmmm... Homebrew channel is starting to get tempting...
David432111 @ Mar 31st 2009 1:12PM
Yup it was released today, and it loads brawl amazingly fast! :D
Waninoko's site is down, but there are still links all around the web.
Miken @ Mar 31st 2009 2:32PM
A couple questions here:
-It says you have to format the hard drive. So, does this mean that you can not use the hard drive for other purposes as well?
-How large are these games??
and lastly...
Do you need the homebrew channel installed before loading this channel?
Havok @ Mar 31st 2009 4:17PM
The sarcasm is burning my eyes.
Yan @ Mar 31st 2009 4:25PM
i wonder how fast does it play from the USB source
BebopFox @ Mar 31st 2009 6:12PM
From my understanding the Wii's DVD drive is only an x6 speed and loading the games via usb 2.0 cuts most load times in 1/2. The downside to this is that the time it takes to copy some games to the HDD can be anywhere up to about 2 hours (or more).
maduin @ Mar 31st 2009 10:08PM
actually, the largest game for the Wii is Super Smash Bros Brawl, and it only took 30 minutes to copy to the HDD, all other games take less than 10 minutes or so.
Slick @ Apr 4th 2009 4:11AM
So it just uses the normal USB ports in the back?
Dave @ Apr 25th 2009 8:47AM
would you be able to put games onto the harddrive from your computer and still load them? i've allready got the homebrew channel and i have the backup loader. The thing is i've allready got all my games ripped to an external hdd so that if the discs do get scratched i can just burn a new on i have kids you see this happens at least twice a week. so could i move the games onto my computer,format the hdd and then move them back?
Thanks for any help/info
Dave
NoAndThen @ May 11th 2009 11:26AM
Yeah you can do that; just get the WBFS GUI. It's available in the USB loader torrent on demonoid, or i'm sure you can find it elsewhere.
1. Hook up the HDD, move your games to another drive
2. Load the WBFS GUI program, and select your drive letter from the dropdown menu
3. choose format drive
4. choose 'file explorer' from the left hand side, and select the iso you want to put on the drive (I doubt you can do multiple at once, but maybe, iduno.)
5. Wait, and then hook it up to your wii and enjoy!
6. You can then rip games direct to the hdd from dvd using the wii.