Back Up Wii – Some Current Methods

Hi,

In looking around at some of the methods that other people are using  to back up  Wii Games, it basically boils down to a choice of  two : 1 . Using a Wii Modchip  or 2; using a combination of Homebrew Channel, an SD Card, a DVD-R Burner and Imgburn – to get their Wii Console to stage where it can play games from copied disks.

Each of these methods can be  made to work but they both struck me as being too fiddly for the average user and not necessarily all that cheap either. Let’s look at both in turn:

Wii Mod Chips

A Wii mod chip (modification chip) is basically a small piece of electronic kit that once installed can be used to modify or disable built-in restrictions that you’ll find in Wii consoles. A Wii Mod chip works by basically overriding the system’s protective hardware or software. Specifically, once a mod chip has been installed a Wii user will be able to play backups or  copies of their Wii games, play imported games, use unlicensed homebrew applications and games  as well as play all region DVD Movies.

The problem with using a Wii modchip is that its installation  requires a fair degree of technical expertise . The mod chip needs to be connected to the circuitry of your Wii’s motherboard – which involves soldering – so unless your skilled up in this area, I’d suggest not attempting to do it yourself.

There’s also the fact that Nintendo aren’t sitting on your hands when it comes to this matter. They’re taking a numer of steps to combat the use of Mod chips – by doing things such as changing the DVD Drives that come with new Wii consoles to render the old Mod chips obsolete as well as taking measures such as putting epoxy glue over the security chip on the motherboard so that it can’t be easily replaced. Of course, as Nintendo makes these changes, the hacking community also adapts so now you’ll find things such as Wii Drive Chips – which connect directly to the console’s optical drive motherboard and not the main motherboard; and take control of the optical drive’s firmware by patching it though a series of debug command, ultimately altering the firmware so that it take commands from standard DVD media. Complicated stuff and unless you really know your way around electronics, not recommended to be done by yourself.

There are various shops around that will mod your Wii for  you and you’d be looking at paying at least $100 to get this type work done. You will however be able to back up your Wii  games onto discs thereafter, and play those same Wii games from the copied discs.

Using Homebrew Channel + DVD-R Burner + SD Card + ImgBurn

This method (once successfully implemented) will allow you to make backup copies of your Wii games without having to install a modchip.

It requires the following:

1. Homebrew Channel – a free homebrew application loader that allows you to run official software on a Wii Console.

2. A DVD-R  Burner  (If you don’t already have one of these they can usually be bought online for about $40)

3. Some DVD-R discs. These usually retail for about $2 each so if you were buying a pack of 20 (if for instance you were looking to back up 20 games) then you’s be up for $40.

4. an SD Card (flash memory card) and:

5. ImgBurn – free software that allows the recording of many CD/DVD images onto recordable media.

To cut a long story short, there are several steps involved in putting this method into practice and it requires a fair degree of computing and technical proficiency. Unless you’re really  confident in steering your way around this terrain, there’s a lot that can go wrong. To my mind – it’s the preserve of people who really like fiddling around with technical solutions and outwitting the man (in this case, Nintendo)

Copying Wii Games? There has to be a better way.