A tool called Wafel checks whether your Wii U storage is failing

The Wii U’s weak spot is its internal storage, and a tool called Wafel Installer can now test it from the console’s own web browser. That storage is an 8 GB or 32 GB eMMC chip, per WiiUBrew, and the Wii U System Database, which logs owners’ consoles, flags every Hynix one with a warning: “Hynix eMMCs are known to fail for no obvious reason.”

Running the check takes no modding. On a stock Wii U, the project’s guide says to open the console’s browser and enter https://wafel.xyz to launch the installer; a console already running Aroma or Tiramisu starts it from the SD card instead. Then pick the NAND health check from its menu. The project’s GitHub release notes added “NAND Check” in version 1.4.

The check reads the console’s own error logs and names the chip’s maker, marking Hynix “WARNING” and the others “Good,” according to its source code. After that it offers longer read tests: a few minutes for the system storage, and “several hours” for the full eMMC read, which it marks “likely not necessary” when the logs already show the chip failing.

The same installer does a lot more than test. Its GitHub page says it installs Stroopwafel custom firmware, ISFShax and the Aroma homebrew environment, and prepares SD cards and USB drives, so read the menu before you press anything. If you only came to check your storage, the NAND test is the one option you want.

You can watch it before you run it. FunkyScott47’s video “Is your Wii U about to DIE? Check your NAND Health now!” shows how to launch it on a stock console and a modded one, then runs the test. And yes, the names are all waffles and stroopwafels.

If there’s a Wii U in a closet at your house, plug it in, open its browser and run the NAND check this week. The log report and the chip’s maker come first, and you’ll know whether the chip inside is holding up.

One menu pick tells you which kind of Wii U you own.