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[Kodaman]

WD 500 Gb Y Cable.
Two years, no problems.

 

[SerTapTap]

is it viable to use an enclosure for an old desktop HDD and connect that to the wii U? I am asking because I have and old desktop that nobody uses and it might be nice to get some of its old parts working on something before disposing of the rest

If you can power it, yes. Anything you can get to work over USB should work fine, and there's plenty of enclosures for 2.5 or 3.5 HDDs. Not sure a y cable is enough for a 3.5" drive though, might want a powered one? Powered ones free up one extra USB slot anyway.

 

[Powerwing]

It's sad that they did not provide at least one high powered usb port. I'm using the lan adapter and it's very ugly because i have to use front usb ports. To be honest i'm using wifi now because i can't stand the ugliness of the setup.

 

[Herne]

A Western Digital Elements 1TB.

 

[LiK]

Is it possible to use a USB flash drive for storage?

yup

 

[burgerdog]

Can you guys expand on this enclosure stuff? My ps4's original 500gb hd is just sitting on my night table right now and I could really use the space on my wii u if I could somehow use it for that.

 

[th4tguy]

WD 500 Gb Y Cable.
Two years, no problems.

This is what I use. I got the basic WiiU with only 8gb of storage and I planned to get all of my game digitally but I ended up never playing the darn thing so when I do get a game for it it's extremely discounted physical copy. The hard drive is basically pointless for my use. Maybe I'll swap it over to the Xbone if I ever get one of those.

 

[Kanann]

western digital my book 2tb

 

[DeadlyBunny]

I know Nintendo advises against flash media, but I just said screw it and bought a 32 gb flash drive. So far so good. living on the edge yo

Spoiler

I live in constant fear of losing my saves D:

 

[Zolbrod]

After hearing about the installs for Xenoblade X, I've been thinking of getting a USB flash drive. I hear they're not super-reliable, but as long as I can store my save file elsewhere, I don't mind.

 

[Boy Wander]

I use this Samsung drive:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-500GB-Slimline-Portable-Drive/dp/B008PSEWRG

No issues so far.

EDIT: With Y-Cable

 

[Pandy]

Using the stock PS4 500GB HDD in a caddy using a Y cable. Not particularly fast, but works pretty well.

I did have a much better powered 2TB Toshiba external HDD hooked up, but it repeatedly caused system lock-ups, usually when exiting to the system menu from software. I think it might have been something to do with it's auto-off/sleep/whatever function on the drive.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

I'm using an old WD 160GB 3.5" external drive that has it's own power supply. I couldn't use a 2.5 drive since none of mine have external power, and I can't use a Y cable because I need one of those ports for my wired Internet connection.

The Wii U has four USB ports. Two on front, two on back. My setup is two front for U cable, one back for LAN and second back for Gamecube adapter (boo hoo no rumble).

I did have a much better powered 2TB Toshiba external HDD hooked up, but it repeatedly caused system lock-ups, usually when exiting to the system menu from software. I think it might have been something to do with it's auto-off/sleep/whatever function on the drive.

There is a button combo you can press to turn off auto-sleep on hard drives.

Here's a handy tip: In the System Settings go to "Data Management". Once there do not click on the on-screen buttons but instead hold down on the GamePad's D-Pad and the "+" and "-" buttons for a couple of seconds. A hidden option will show up and you can disable or re-enable the Sleep Mode on the connected HDD. You can do this even if you don't have a removable HDD plugged in the Wii U.

Thanks Nintendo.

 

[th4tguy]

Can you guys expand on this enclosure stuff? My ps4's original 500gb hd is just sitting on my night table right now and I could really use the space on my wii u if I could somehow use it for that.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E362W9O/?tag=neogaf0e-20

You would put your old PS4 hard drive into this case and then hook up the new enclosed hdd to your WiiU using USB cable (probably Y cable)

 

[Not Spaceghost]

A 500 gig seagate external harddrive with it's own power cable.

None of my other externals would be detected by the Wii U. Not even the one with the USB y cable, which is funny because my seagate doesn't even have a USB Y cable.

 

[atr0cious]

I've got a Western Digital 1 TB My Passport with USB 3.0 connected via Y-cable.

 

[DownGrader]

There is a button combo you can press to turn off auto-sleep on hard drives.

Thanks Nintendo.

TIL! Whoa... this is really some easter-egg type of option. How did people even find out it?

 

[squeakywheel]

I didn't realize Nintendo warns against USB sticks. I've been using a pny 128gb USB stick the past year with no issues.

 

[TheGrue]

I've got one of these: Seagate Expansion 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0

Works great and is powered over USB. I just use the two USB ports on the back of the Wii U to plug it in.

Someone's post below reminded me I had to buy a Y cable.

 

[i-Jest]

I have a 2TB Seagate drive waiting in the wing when my consoles internal memory fills up.

 

[openrob]

I have a small 160GB Toshiba HDD I snagged off eBay. Using a Y cable, but only works without external power if Y cable is plugged in Front USB of Wii U???

 

[frankie_baby]

A 2TB drive of some sort

 

[EDarkness]

I got a Buffalo 2TB drive (powered) that has been going since I got my Wii U. No problems so far and it even survived a trip to the U.S.

 

[Lucifon]

I just use a 64gb Kingston Micro USB stick. Works perfectly fine. I don't buy that much digitally on the Wii U.

 

[valouris]

A really old 500gb Maxtor one touch, which requires external power supply, with only one USB cable. Has been working fine for more than a year now, but it might be slowing the system down when it hasn't been accessed for a while.

 

[Ninja Dom]

1. I was using a 64GB USB flash stick from when I got the Wii U at launch. And it worked fine up until Wii Sports came out for Wii U. I noticed it wouldn't load. When I copied the game over to the Wii U main memory it worked fine. Then I got Mario Kart 8 at launch and the game crashed a lot and I got errors all the time during MKTV. I figured it was the flash drive.

2. So now I use an old 160GB portable Western Digital HDD that's about 8 years old. I bought it when I was still using a Power PC Mac Mini. Anyway it's hooked up to the Wii U using a Y cable and works absolutely fine. I did some loading speed tests and this HDD is far quicker than using the USB flash drive.

Last year I bought a Samsung 1TB portable HDD from Amazon for about £45. Bargain! I don't use it on the Wii U but it might be even cheaper now. And a Y cable is only about £2.

 

[stan423321]

There is a button combo you can press to turn off auto-sleep on hard drives.

Thanks Nintendo.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING

Then again, current Opera needs Konami code for cleaning up Speed Dial.

 

[Omikaru]

500gb Samsung portable HDD connected via Y-Cable. I did use the cable in the box at first, but the system kept on crashing. Once I switched to the Y-Cable the problems disappeared.

 

[madmook]

I keep a 64GB Sandisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 flash drive plugged in, didn't want a giant external drive hanging onto my Wii U.

 

[jmizzal]

My hard drive I used with y-cables failed me in 2 months, I havent brought another one yet, but gonna have to get a good HD when Xenoblade comes out

 

[shanafan]

I have had my Wii U since August 2013, and I use a 500GB Seagate external drive. It plugs into the wall, so it gets its power that way (My Xbox One HD is external USB powered)

Zero issues since I hooked it up! I even use a USB cable extender since I have some distance between the Wii U and the hard drive.

 

[Fbh]

An old 250gb external HDD connected with a Y-Usb cable.

I've been using it for a year and no problem so far

 

[Oreoleo]

32GB SanDisk Cruzer

Fuckin' 11GB DKCTF. If it were even a gig smaller I wouldn't need one.

 

[bryehn]

Is it possible to use a USB flash drive for storage?

I've done it since day one with zero issues. Like SD cards though, use a good one to be on the safe side.

 

[dallow_bg]

Nothing wrong with thumbdrives despite the benign warnings.

I keep a 64GB Sandisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 flash drive plugged in, didn't want a giant external drive hanging onto my Wii U.

I use the same thing and another stick to back it up every once in a while.

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[dallow_bg]

I'm using a 32GB SD card with a USB reader.

The Wii U's internal memory is eMMC (embedded multimedia card). Using a decent quality SD card is fine. Nintendo probably just recommends against thumb drives as a precaution against all the cheap crap ones.

Yeah, it's just to cover their butts.

 

[RootCause]

Seagate Backup Plus 2TB. I've had it since the launch of the wiiu, and it works like a charm.

 

[petethepanda]

Just got that Seagate Expansion 2tb drive to tear out of its enclosure and put into my PS4... occurs to me that I could now use my old 500gb PS4 drive in the enclosure for the Wii U.

 

[Persona7]

I've used a USB flash drive on my 360 for years without any issues so I don't see why it would be any different on Wii U as long as the read and write speeds are relatively fast.

 

[CaviarMeths]

2TB Western Digital MyBook. Picked it up at launch, no issues with it so far.

 

[ozfunghi]

Old laptop HDD in an enclosure + Y cable. Since launch, still works, but i do get a disconnect error every few months.

 

[Zeyphersan]

Can I use a Y-cable with any USB drive or does it have to be a specific kind?

 

[Mesoian]

Toshiba Canvio 500GB since launch

Same.

 

[BumblebeeCody]

a Seagate 500GB SSD.
It's great for storing games and backing up saves. Keep in mind you'll need to get yourself a USB 3.0 Y Cable since using one Wii U port won't be enough to give power to the drive.

Can I use a Y-cable with any USB drive or does it have to be a specific kind?

See above. It's really annoying since I use my GameCube adaptor so all 4 Wii U ports are being used.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

The Wii U has four USB ports. Two on front, two on back.

Thank you. I completely forgot about those front ports behind the panel. Probably won't use them because I don't want cables hanging out the front but it's good to know in case I want to switch to a 2.5" drive down the line.

 

[LaNaranja]

I got this 2TB Buffalo drive at launch from Amazon although it was significantly cheaper then. It was on the list of officially supported drives on the Nintendo site. I haven't had any problems with it whatsoever.

 

[Eldainorn]

All save games are in the same place as the game itself.

Didn't know that. Thx for info! Fortunately I go all physical. I guess Trine will be the only exception and maybe few VC titles which I will put onto internal memory.

 

[shouamabane]

I'm using a 5+ year old WD 1.5 TB external drive.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Canvio 1tb with y cable.