I recently started experimenting with importing SD card binary Vault files from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. First I verified that Brawl could write to and read from the SD card image SD.raw succesfully in Dolphin. It can.
Now I went on to import my vault data from my actual Wii. I installed WinImage as instructed and mounted a blank SD.raw. I then dropped the private directory on the root of the SD image. The directory structure is now the following:
\
[color=#efefef]--[/color]-[private]
[color=#efefef]----[/color]-[wii]
[color=#efefef]------[/color]-[app]
[color=#efefef]--------[/color]-[RSBE]
[color=#efefef]---------[/color][al]
[color=#efefef]---------[/color][rp]
[color=#efefef]---------[/color][st]
The directories al, rp, and st are the album, replay, and stage folders. The Vault data filenames are the type followed by the date and time. Example: rp_110302_1646.bin. This is all fine and dandy, but there's a flaw that makes importing your own SD card data impossible. Once you import the files, Brawl will not recognize them until you select them and tick the "Archive" attribute in WinImage. They now appear in the Vault, but oh no, now the game says the files are corrupted!
The problem occurs when you view the attributes of a file in WinImage. Even if you don't change anything and save SD.raw, the game still sees them as corrupt. There's a hidden file attribute that gets reset when WinImage views the attributes. It's something WinImage doesn't recognize. So basically when you go to enable the Archive attribute, WinImage ends up corrupting the file, making it unreadable in Brawl.
Unless someone fully takes a look at the .bin data attributes Brawl uses and develops a file manager that's compatible with them, it won't be possible to add your own vault data from the SD card.
But don't worry, you can still get your Vault data working in Dolphin. Simply copy anything you want to transfer to your Wii System Memory (or leave it if it's already there) then use a homebrew Wii save extractor and move the title folder to Dolphin that way.
Now I went on to import my vault data from my actual Wii. I installed WinImage as instructed and mounted a blank SD.raw. I then dropped the private directory on the root of the SD image. The directory structure is now the following:
\
[color=#efefef]--[/color]-[private]
[color=#efefef]----[/color]-[wii]
[color=#efefef]------[/color]-[app]
[color=#efefef]--------[/color]-[RSBE]
[color=#efefef]---------[/color][al]
[color=#efefef]---------[/color][rp]
[color=#efefef]---------[/color][st]
The directories al, rp, and st are the album, replay, and stage folders. The Vault data filenames are the type followed by the date and time. Example: rp_110302_1646.bin. This is all fine and dandy, but there's a flaw that makes importing your own SD card data impossible. Once you import the files, Brawl will not recognize them until you select them and tick the "Archive" attribute in WinImage. They now appear in the Vault, but oh no, now the game says the files are corrupted!
The problem occurs when you view the attributes of a file in WinImage. Even if you don't change anything and save SD.raw, the game still sees them as corrupt. There's a hidden file attribute that gets reset when WinImage views the attributes. It's something WinImage doesn't recognize. So basically when you go to enable the Archive attribute, WinImage ends up corrupting the file, making it unreadable in Brawl.
Unless someone fully takes a look at the .bin data attributes Brawl uses and develops a file manager that's compatible with them, it won't be possible to add your own vault data from the SD card.
But don't worry, you can still get your Vault data working in Dolphin. Simply copy anything you want to transfer to your Wii System Memory (or leave it if it's already there) then use a homebrew Wii save extractor and move the title folder to Dolphin that way.