ShinyTotodude

I got my Wii U today and could do the update and setup without problems. Also the transfer worked quite well. =3
-No problems with any software so far
-My Pokémon Ranch deleted the Miis but all Pokémon are still there.
-Donkey Kong Country games work fine
-I need to redownload all VirtualConsole and WiiWare games to an SD card
-The Wii U plays VirtualConsole and WiiWare games from an SD card without problems
-The Wii U can't play eShop games from an SD card as long you don't use it with an SD card to USB adapter on the console
-The eShop cards for the 3DS eShop work fine on the Wii U

So far I can say if you are willing to do the downloads and updates all at day one along with the Nintendo ID registration then you have a great time with your Wii U. I already love it to scribble drawings in Miiverse. I drew a Yoshi and got some +Yeah! already. (-^.=.^-) ♪

So if what you are saying is true (and I think I saw something similar in the Wii U instruction manual - which is confusing for this process by the way) I think you are saying that since I downloaded those wii virtual console games, I can just wipe out my SD card, use it for the transfer (Wii points, miis, game saves, etc) and then once everything is configured on Wii U, then go and re-download those titles from the virtual console once again (now on the Wii U), free of charge?

Thanks!

Yes, you could do that since the data about your purchases, your Wii Shop Channel account data, will also get transfered to your Wii U. It will be then as if you actually bought your games from the Wii U in first place. There is a button saying "Downloaded games" or something like that in the Shopping Channel and there you can redownload all the games you once paid for.
I actually found my DK Country games there as well now and tried searching them in the VC catalogue where they really got removed like stated for yesterday. That shuld be a solution already to one of the problems I saw in first place. Good to see that this is no problem. I think until Friday I'll buy two eShop cards to try something out yet. =3

My question is, do I need to buy ANOTHER SD card? Or can I somehow copy wha I have saved on my Wii SD card to the Wii U, then use the (I assume to be now blank) SD card for the transfer option?
If not, how can I get my saves that are currently on my SD card to the Wii U? Or can I at all?

Hi there! =3
Well, you don't actually need an additional SD card but you'll loose everything on the SD card you use because of the formatting process. I actually have several SD cards at home so I'll use a normal 1GB SD card for the process. Afterwards I'll need to redownload the channel data for all the WiiWare & VirtualConsole titles.
As far as I heard it's said to be possible to transfer the channel data directly as long it was on the Wii memory before you started the transfer. Because of that I simply transfered "Donkey Kong Country 3" and "My Pokémon Ranch" from the SD card to the Wii memory now.
I can't say if there is an option to copy channel data directly from an SD card but since I use another SD card for the transfer process the data from my other SD card can't get formatted.
About your savefiles I just can recommend you to copy them to your Wii console. The YouTube videos show that most of the savefiles get transfered as long they aren't console-locked like the Super Smash Bros. Brawl file. I didn't hear about that the Brawl file actually gets deleted during the process but I'll check on that. If I actually should loose my Brawl file it's not such a big deal for me because in Brawl there aren't efforts that are one-time-events and couldn't done another time. =3

The Wii U hits the market in Europe on Friday and as help for others I plan to do a video on YouTube that brings facts to the questions stated here so far. If anybody feels like there should be more things I could check on then just add those problems here. (-^.=.^-)

Well, the better question is if someone would delete their game now from their Wii would they still be able to get ther purchased copy back? (^.=.^')

Memory transfer cable?

No, it's that process you do to transfer the Wii savefiles to the Wii U. I wrote the things down I know about it here:
http://thewiiu.com/topic/7217-your-experiences-with-the-wii-u-transfer-tool/