Has anyone hacked their Wii to play games off of a hard drive?

I've been reading this guide and it seems pretty straight forward. Seems like a sweet way of backing up all your Wii games to a hard drive so that you don't have to keep putting the discs in. The laser in my drive has been failing so it seems like a pretty good option.

How to Back Up and Play Your Wii Games from an External Hard Drive

Has anyone actually tried this? Is there any chance of breaking my Wii forever? For those who have already tried it, did you get banned from playing online?