Backup Wii Games On A Mac – WiiOSx
NOTE: This will only work with backup copies of Wii Games, there is currently no support for the internal DVD drives that come standard in any Mac for reading original Wii discs.
In an effort to keep things simple, this is a follow-up of my tutorial on How To Backup And Burn Wii Games On A Mac. I have developed an application that allows you to simply insert the Wii Game into your DVD Drive and then select a location and name for your ISO and simply click on Backup Wii Game.
NOTE: This is an Alpha release of WiiOSx, I will need to receive a lot of feedback as far as functionality is concerned. WiiOSx has been tested on OS X 10.5 and works without any issues. Please leave comments and let me know what you’d like to see in future releases as well as any bugs you may experience.
Just follow the simple step by step Tutorial Below:
WiiOSx Tutorial:
Download WiiOSx, extract and then Launch the Application.
WiiOSx - Main Menu
Insert your Wii Game that you want to Backup, Finder should pop up and say that you inserted a blank DVD. Click on Ignore. Now you should see information for Media Type and BSD Name. This information is not important but it should say something other then No Disc.
Click on Select and choose where to save your image and give it a name and then click Save
WiiOSx - Select
You should now see your chosen location and image name appear next to the Select Button.
WiiOSx - Location
If this is correct then you can proceed to click on Backup Wii Game, you should then be presented with a progress bar. Wait for it to finish and then burn with Disk Utility. You can follow my other tutorial for that bit. http://chris-fletcher.com/2009/05/17/backup-and-burn-wii-games-on-a-mac/
WiiOSx - Progress
[poll id="7"]
I will not charge for WiiOSx but I’m hoping that I’ll at least receive some donations for my hard work. You can use the form below to donate any amount you wish.
[donateplus] [donorwall title='Donor Recognition Wall']
Similar Posts:
- Backup and Burn Wii Games on a Mac
- How To: Burn XBOX 360 Games On A Mac
- Ultimate Guide To Backing Up Original Wii Games
- Ripping Encrypted VIDEO_TS folder on a Mac
- What To Do If OSx360 Fails Verification
Hi Chris
Thanks for the download. I did try and follow your first tutorial though couldn’t get it to work. I have the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845E DVD drive, so not sure if this was the problem. Tried a couple of suggestions that you had given in the comments.
I downloaded WiiOSx, unzipped, double clicked to launch the application. It bounced up and down a couple of times in the application bar, then disappeared. I’m running OS X 10.4 (Tiger) – you have only tested on Leopard. Could this be the problem?
Kind regards
Glenda
Hi Glenda,
Thanks for testing out WiiOSx, I will need to do some testing on OS X 10.4 to verify backwards compatibility. Just out of curiosity what step of the tutorial was giving you a problem ? and which of the suggestions have you tried ?
Thanks,
Chris
@Chris
Hi Chris, thank’s for the quick response, especially as it’s the middle of the night in the US. Only late afternoon for us here in Australia.
Anyhow, I followed each step in the tutorial. One difference, instead of the popup you had shown first in the tutorial (the ‘inserted blank DVD’ pop-up), mine came up as a pop-up with a red warning sign, saying it couldn’t be recognised by my computer, do I want to eject or ignore. I went ahead, and clicked ignore, then went in to terminal just as you had described. Did everything as per your steps, this was the response I had got:
localhost:~ glendacrawford$ drutil status
Vendor Product Rev
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845E DMP2
Type: Unknown Name: /dev/disk1
Cur Write: 0x DVD Sessions: 1
Max Write: 0x DVD Tracks: 1
Overwritable: 00:00:00 blocks: 0 / 0.00MB / 0.00MiB
Space Free: 00:00:00 blocks: 0 / 0.00MB / 0.00MiB
Space Used: 509:58:62 blocks: 2294912 / 4.70GB / 4.38GiB
Writability:
Book Type: 15
localhost:~ glendacrawford$ dd if=/dev/disk1 of=/spyro.iso
dd: /dev/disk1: Input/output error
0+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes transferred in 0.029617 secs (0 bytes/sec)
localhost:~ glendacrawford$
So not sure what I have done wrong.
I’ll have to put my hand up and say I’m a complete novice at this, so may have misterpreted your instructions.
I found I did have to do your – reboot the computer with the disc in it trick – for it to even recognise that something was there.
Thanks for your help.
Glenda
Hi Chris
I think I need to get new glasses – I missed the most important line in your tutorial. THIS ONLY WORKS ON WII BACK-UPS, I was trying to back up an original Wii game.
I followed the original tutorial – and it’s all working fine.
Sorry to waste your time.
Can you point me in the best direction (software/hardware) for backing up original discs on a Mac?
Thanks
Glenda
I am currently testing out a few different options. I should have a tutorial up in a few days on how to rip original Wii Discs. Sorry for the confusion
hi chris
how long does it take you to backup a typical disc? my conversion is going at a rate of 1MB per min, so a 4.7GB disc will take me 80 hours! lol i’m wondering if i did it wrongly. i am using a macbook.
Definitely shouldn’t take that long, what type of drive do you have ? When I use it on my mac book it takes about 15 to 20 min.
i tried this on osx 10.4.11 and my computer doesnt keep mt games in it just spit them back out!
Are you trying to backup original Wii games or backups ? This will not work for original Wii games. To backup original Wii games you can follow my other tutorial. Here’s a link http://chris-fletcher.com/2009/06/17/ultimate-guide-to-backing-up-original-wii-games/
Great little app. Works perfectly on my MBP running 10.5.7. The one thing I noticed however is that if you forget to put a name in to save the file as it causes the app to crash completely. Consider adding a check for blank name and then just pop up a warning for the user instead of the app crashing.
Thanks!!
Absolutely, I’ve been waiting for people to test the app and give me feedback. Sometimes I just don’t have the time to test every single scenario, so the apps are bound to have a few bugs.
Thanks for the feedback
Hi Chris, top idea with this little app. unfortunately I cant get it to start. Just bounces up and down… then nothing. Im running OSX10.4.11 Ive seen this sort of thing before when I try to load 10.5 apps… is WiiOSX compatible with 10.4?
Thanks, I might make the next release backwards compatible with 10.4
Hey Chris!
I’ve gotten the app to start, it shows exactly the same screen as the screenie you got there (of course dvd specific details are different) but when i select back upt wii game, it doesnt do anything, just pops up the “burning” dialogue in and out!
running on imac aluminum 10.5.8 leopard dvd drive name matshita dvd-r uj-85j
help appreciated
Did you use a retail disc or an already burned game ?
the “you inserted a blank disc” does not appear! what’s goin’ on??!!
and then ejects my game.
mouseyboy22,
This happens when you insert an original Wii game. Is it an original that you are trying to back up or is it a back up ?
Chris
Hi Chris,
Great tutorial, I wish I wouldn’t keep returning and thinking this would work with original wii games(I seem to forget that I read this every 2 months and always try with originals). Do you or anyone else happen to know of a solution for backing up original games on the mac? I would love to be traveling and backup a game without having to lug my Wii around.
Thanks!
Brett,
There are certain drives that are able to read original wii discs. I haven’t been able to purchase one of these, lack of funds. If someone is willing to donate one, I’d be more then happy to write software for it.
Chris
Hi Chris,
Does your app work on snow leopard?
John
I cannot choose dvd reader, but my built-in Pioneer ejects immediatly the original dvd, or doesn’t makes copy from a backup dvd.
If i use another one, a usb LG burner, the original dvd does’t ejects, but i cannot use your sw.
Specs:
Pioneer S-Ata: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-215D
LG usb2: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-5160D
Please let me know if you have a solution to burning original wii games on a mac with Snow Lep. Thanks
I would have a solution if someone would either give me the money or donate a drive. There is a special drive I need to do testing and development.
What version of OS X are you using?
Very useful application for me.
There is only one little bug what would be useful to correct.
When I eject the disc the program hang up with error.
Thank you
I know, I’ve been slacking off when it comes to bug fixes, I’ve been very busy lately with work. As soon as I get some free time I’ll try to address all feature requests and bug reports.
If I installed one of the LG GDR drives in my mac pro 2nd drive unit whould I be able to burn a .dmg then?
would appreciate any feedback
Thanks
Hey I am really interested in using this program to rip wii games. I even got the right LG drives the read to the original disks. The problem I am having is that with this program you have can only see the internal drive.
Is there anyway for you to add a feature so that you can select a drive that is not internal, like from usb or firewire?
Thanks
Julien
What is the point of this program if it will only works with back up copies of Wii games. I must be missing something because if you already figured out how to make a backup copy of a game then it would be easy to make a backup of the backup without this program or tutorial. Am I missing something?
Oh, and any help on how to make backup copies of an original Wii game would be great. I download Game Copy Wizard and it didn’t work at all.
Thanks….
The point of the program is to make it easy for you to make a backup of a backup to share maybe with a friend or for some other reason. The reason that you cannot make a backup of an original Wii disc on a mac is because of the way the data is written to the disc, special commands have to be issued and the drive has to support it.
Currently the drives that come with the mac do not support it, so you’d have to purchase an external drive. I’ve volunteered to write the software if someone would be willing to donate the drive as I can’t afford it.
Hey Chris,
Trying to see if I can help you out with that drive… I know that LG is the right brand of drive, but can it be any type or is there a particular model.
Seems like everyone wants something for free on here, huh?
Thanks for all the hard work,
Tim
Tim,
LG GDR-8164B, LG-8163b, the LG-8162b and the LG-8161b are all compatible drives that would work. It’s nice to be appreciated, and development does take a lot of time and without donations every now and then, it makes it kinda hard to stay motivated.
Thanks,
Chris
I have an iMac 24 running 10.5.8 and it just spits the disk out. Are there any settings in the OS to prevent it from automatically ejecting disks it doesn’t recognize (or can’t mount)? Thanks.
Chris,
Truely appreciate you developing the software and releasing it without cost! It’s nice to see folks give back.
What does it cost for one of the drives? If software was written to backup an original disk would it work on international titles as well? Or would there need to be a hardware mod to allow it to work?
Thanks!
F**K YEAH!
i’m testing this beauty right now and have spent the last couple hours looking for a soft doing this.
it seems to work for now, thats good, i think i’ll finally sleep tonight
Howesome chris!! work perfectly fine on both my macbook and mac mini!
just a suggestion for one of your next release: the size format while copying. in bytes, it’s a bit complicated to get it. maybe % would be better. otherwise, perfect job you’ve done here. just what i look forward in mac apps.. simply does what it’s made for!
GREAT JOB!
Derek,
I think right around $50 to $60 would do it. I would expect that once the DVD has been ripped that you can use preexisting software to change region codes, etc… there shouldn’t have to be a hardware mod involved.
Chris
Flow,
Good news, glad to hear you are finding good use.
Chris
Flow,
Thanks for the praise, and for the suggestion. I have a few apps that I’ve developed that need some updating, I’m making a list of feature requests and bug fixes.
Chris
Hi,
The program recognizes the backup game on my external USB drive but the progress drop menu will come down but then go back up immediately afterwards. I’m on a macbook and my internal dvd drive wasn’t being recognized by the program. Media type and BSD name were both hung on “In Transition”. Any ideas?
thanks in advance.
Hi Chris,
When I select back up wii game, it doesn’t do anything, just pops up the “burning” dialogue in and out!
running on Macbook with latest version of Leopard. I tried using both internal and external USB dvd drive which both seem to be recognized but no results. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!