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Is it possible to backup Wii disks on a PC?

I have a 6 year old who doesn't understand that disks need to be cared for properly. ( I have both WinXP and Linux machines with CD/DVD writers.)

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There are a couple ways of backing up Wii Discs using a PC. Both of them are not approved by Nintendo, because you need to modify your Wii software to play discs which are backups of the originals. There are four things that you will need on your Wii:

  1. The Wii Homebrew Channel, in order to run homebrew software on your Wii. Because most of the DVD drives in PCs cannot read Wii discs (they are a special format), you will need to use your Wii to read the disc and produce an ISO.
  2. Custom IOS software for your Wii. The IOS on the Wii are like kernels which will provide different functions to the games and other software which play on the Wii. Thankfully some of the homebrew people have come up with custom IOSes which allow you to do some other things that you wouldn't normally be able to do. These are called cIOS. Get the most recent cIOS by Waninkoko and install it by using the loader in the Homebrew Channel
  3. The DVD Dumper software, which will use the cIOS to dump a disc which is in your drive over wifi to a computer running software programmed to receive it.
  4. A Backup loader. This is what will play your games on your Wii, using again the cIOS installed in step 2. They aren't really easy to use unfortunately yet, so you will probably have to use one which is kid-friendly (lots of people who are doing this have your specific problem). You can find different backup loaders in this forum.

As a postscript, getting some of these things on your Wii can be really hard to do, because reasonably Nintendo has been trying to keep people from running their own software on the Wii for a while now. Make sure you read the guides for installing cIOS ESPECIALLY CAREFUL as you can BRICK YOUR WII, and maybe try to install something like BootMii which will make it easier to not screw up your Wii permanently first.

NOTE: This stuff should only be used to back up your own discs so that they do not get ruined by someone! I do not condone games piracy.

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    So, I have to run unapproved software, and risk bricking the hardware in order to back up a $.25 bit of plastic...thanks, DRM.
    – chris
    Aug 1, 2009 at 22:24
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    Yes, it's incredibly lame. Nothing like protecting pieces of plastic instead of having the ONLINE console just register the game with the Wii account or something.
    – jamuraa
    Aug 2, 2009 at 3:54

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