A console hacker named WinCurious obtained some discarded SD cards from a Nintendo factory that the company used for the factory setup process of Wii and Wii U systems. According to DeadlyFoez, the cards contained a boot image that Nintendo used for the factory setup of the Wii U console. They were able to recover data on some of the damaged SD cards, after which another member of their team discovered an exploit that could be used to restore software-bricked Wii U consoles.
The first challenge they faced was that all the cards were damaged, with approximately 25% of them having a destroyed die and flash memory IC. However, the remaining 75% only had PCB damage — some of them required resoldering work or PCB replacement, while others needed only straightening before they could be read. After the repairs were completed, the next step was to read the contents of the SD cards.
