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Wii U owners - what USB storage are you using?
- Thread starter DownGrader
- Start date
abercrombie
Member
I am surprised I wasn't the only one; I use an old laptop 2.5" drive (120GB) plugged in to a cheap enclosure I bought from China. Works really well, no complaints.
I am using a Y cable as well.
I expected most to be using some sort of Flash Drive or something more commercial.
I am using a Y cable as well.
I expected most to be using some sort of Flash Drive or something more commercial.
SlaughterX
Banned
They advise not using flash storage... never knew that. I wonder why... I am using a 32GB Class 10 SD card (had a 64GB in there but it was too big). I still have a little bit of space left on my console so I doubt I'll ever need more than an extra 32GB at this point in the systems life. I prefer buying physical games anyway.
If i was Nintendo the only reason I would not recommend it is because It never went though testing with SSD's in mind. Its the same reason why there is a list of recommended externals, while others may/will work there cant guarantee it
SatoAilDarko
Member
Related Question.
I plan to take out my 250 GB PS3 hard drive and put it in an enclosure. That's fine.
I plan to replace it with a 1tb one. Is Western Digital or Toshiba better? Is there any reason to get a 7200 over 5400 RPM? Thanks.
I plan to take out my 250 GB PS3 hard drive and put it in an enclosure. That's fine.
I plan to replace it with a 1tb one. Is Western Digital or Toshiba better? Is there any reason to get a 7200 over 5400 RPM? Thanks.
protomouse
Member
Short answer: no.
Long answer: it depends on your drive. If it requires a sustained peak power supply in excess of 5W (+/- 0.25W), the maximum the Y-cable solution guarantees to provide, you're at some point underpowering the drive and overloading the USB ports. This could cause stability issues, filesystem corruption, or permanent damage to the drive.
Now, using a portable external drive designed for bus power, such as WD's My Passport series, is perfectly safe. Slapping whatever desktop drive you have laying around into a USB enclosure, especially if it's a high-velocity drive, might not be. Always check the power requirements of the drive, or use ample wall power if possible.
Thanks for the thorough response!
PadWarrior
Member
Is this a good one? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005J7YBRW/?tag=neogaf0e-20
I'm currently using this one
http://m.gamestop.com/Catalog/Product/106904
but had a nasty bug last night that forced to delete my smash bros data
I'm currently using a hub as well since I have a wired lan adapter and GameCube adapter
I'm currently using this one
http://m.gamestop.com/Catalog/Product/106904
but had a nasty bug last night that forced to delete my smash bros data
I'm currently using a hub as well since I have a wired lan adapter and GameCube adapter
Same here. Old-ass 2008 USB 2.0 160GB drive that came with an Y cable (pretty much required if I plug it into a HUB). No problem so far, except that the Wii U OS becomes very sluggish while downloading games.
El Sabroso
Member
I use an Adata HD710 with Y-cable
FunkyDealer
Banned
Seagate Expansion 2.5" external (1tb), powered by a Y-cable in the back of the Wii. Works perfectly, plug and play.
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Likewise. Only mine is aI 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.
JamesJoyce1882
Member
Also using a USB flash drive. Don't use a super cheap one (with slow writes) and you'll be fine. Any medium tier USB3 flash drive should work well.
To address some other opinions in this thread: USB flash drives don't need more power than USB specs, and also the Wii U does not see a difference between a hard drive or a thumb drive.
To address some other opinions in this thread: USB flash drives don't need more power than USB specs, and also the Wii U does not see a difference between a hard drive or a thumb drive.
AbandonedTrolley
Member
For some reason I've a caddy and a Y cable but the WiiU keeps just saying "Unable to format USB drive"
FunkyDealer
Banned
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 used to have a flash drive plugged in the back of my Wii U, but I'm much happier with a 1tb 2.5" HDD. I never have to worry about storage-space, it's been just as reliable and will likely last at least as long. It's still so quiet I can't really hear it over the Wii U, and because it's so small and my console is in a shelf under the TV, it's not particularly visually obstructive even if it's black and my Wii U is white. Likely due to it falling into shadow and matching the surrounding black boxes (satellite-tv, amp, Xbone).
FunkyDealer
Banned
Have you tried plugging it into a PC and formatting it to FAT32?
And is it a 2.5"?
AbandonedTrolley
Member
Yeah have done that and yes 2.5" drive, tried both a 320GB and a 1TB in the caddy.
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
I use to use kingston usb drivers ('data traveller') almost exclusively, till last year when I noticed that the new models were effectively the slowest usb drives I had ever measured. So watch out with those kingstons!
Nostremitus
Member
Buffalo 2TB external power
Princess Viola
Member
I'm using an 8-gigabyte flash drive right now.
It's a temporary solution because I have a basic model. Will definitely buy an actual hard drive when I get a job.
It's a temporary solution because I have a basic model. Will definitely buy an actual hard drive when I get a job.
Infernal Monkey
Member
Been using a cheap shithouse 32GB USB stick on my basic model for over a year now. Livin' on da edge.
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
Sojiro
Member
I just picked this up a few days ago.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00834SJS0/?tag=neogaf0e-20
I didn't want to mess with the Y cable since I have a USB ethernet in the back of my Wii U, so having a powered drive was a priority to me. 2 TB seems a good bit bigger than I will need, (I mostly purchase physical games) but I was way past the point of fitting all of my games on the laughable amount of storage you're given (I have a 32 GB model), also the 1TB costs more lol. Happy with it so far, but i've only had it for a week.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00834SJS0/?tag=neogaf0e-20
I didn't want to mess with the Y cable since I have a USB ethernet in the back of my Wii U, so having a powered drive was a priority to me. 2 TB seems a good bit bigger than I will need, (I mostly purchase physical games) but I was way past the point of fitting all of my games on the laughable amount of storage you're given (I have a 32 GB model), also the 1TB costs more lol. Happy with it so far, but i've only had it for a week.
Christberg
Member
Toshiba Canvio Desk 1TB I got for 50 bucks on sale
Otherspacing
Member
I was using an old HD (with an external source) I had for Wii homebrews, but I was finishing Captain Toad and it died on me and I lost all my progress. :C
Since then, I study buying a new one but I just can't easily find the Y-cable here in my country.
Since then, I study buying a new one but I just can't easily find the Y-cable here in my country.
CnMemory Airy USB 2.0 HDD, 2TB. Even with the way NoE has been pushing digital (e.g. buy Wonderful 101 digital, get 30% off Pikmin 3) resulting in the majority of my games being digital I've still got plenty of room to go (about 1.8TB actually). Considering how long it took to fill even the 500GB HDD on my PS3 with a constant PS+ bombardement I don't think this will EVER fill up.
Hm, this is the first time I've checked storage sizes on my Wii U, apparently Warriors Orochi 3 is only 15 GB, not 22GB like the download screen claimed. Odd, maybe something shrunk it afterwards because I could swear that I had almost no space left after installing it initially.
Hm, this is the first time I've checked storage sizes on my Wii U, apparently Warriors Orochi 3 is only 15 GB, not 22GB like the download screen claimed. Odd, maybe something shrunk it afterwards because I could swear that I had almost no space left after installing it initially.
D
Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
I bought a cheap WD passport 320GB. It's more than enough for my usage, since I buy most retail games physical, except those with high replay value like MK and Smash
PyroPaperPlanes
Member
If I had to guess, it would be due to a lack of garbage collection (TRIM) support built into the system. Without this, an older flash drive's performance and lifespan can take a substantial hit with the write cycles. That being said, I believe modern SSDs have this included in its internal hardware (the memory controllers), so this isn't nearly as big an issue as it used to be.
That's what I'm doing. Except mine is 300GB, which is way too big. Going to replace it with the drive from my old PS3 and use the 300GB one for other stuff.
Pokemaniac
Member
I'm using a 1.5 TB Western Digital My Book. Had to disable spinning down when idle, but other than that, it's served me well.
I did the exact same thing.
ecosse_011172
Junior Member
I'm using a Patriot Supersonic Rage XT 32GB USB Key, no problems.
I need to buy a bigger USB key but I'm wondering if I need such a fast one....
I need to buy a bigger USB key but I'm wondering if I need such a fast one....
I use this Western Digital 2TB HDD on my WiiU been working good for a few years now never any issues. My 2 nephews also use this same exact USB HDD as well.
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041OSQBG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041OSQBG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage