Yes to both. When i plug it in, it recognizes that theres a drive there, but after i hit the format option it runs for like 2 seconds and an error message comes up that tells me the drive cant be formatted.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Wii U external HDD thread
- Thread starter Christberg
- Start date
Yes to both. When i plug it in, it recognizes that theres a drive there, but after i hit the format option it runs for like 2 seconds and an error message comes up that tells me the drive cant be formatted.
Skyfireblaze
Member
Quick question, I salvaged a old 80gb Toshiba drive from a PS3 and a spare WD 2.5" Mini-USB enclosure for my Wii U, the whole thing works just fine on my PC but the Wii U doesn't detect the drive. I assume that's because I don't use a Y-cable so I guess any of these cables will do, right? http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0029F6Y2W/
Thanks for help in advance!
Thanks for help in advance!
Any 2.5/3.5 hard drive, SATA or IDE, inside an enclosure will work on the Wii U so long as you have a power source or a Y-Cable.
Tested with 4 different HDDs sizes: Hitachi IDE 120GB, Hitachi SATA 160GB, WD SATA 250GB, and Toshiba SATA 500GB. I formatted them all to FAT32 on my Macbook Pro before plugging them into my Wii U.
If you have an old, leftover drive and want to repurpose it. Save money and go get an enclosure/Y-Cable.
SDDs have also been reported to work.
Tested with 4 different HDDs sizes: Hitachi IDE 120GB, Hitachi SATA 160GB, WD SATA 250GB, and Toshiba SATA 500GB. I formatted them all to FAT32 on my Macbook Pro before plugging them into my Wii U.
If you have an old, leftover drive and want to repurpose it. Save money and go get an enclosure/Y-Cable.
SDDs have also been reported to work.
Skyfireblaze
Member
1. What is the proper way to eject an
external HDD without turning off the
console?
2. If you plug in an ext. HDD, is the
downloads automatically stored in
the ext. HDD?
external HDD without turning off the
console?
2. If you plug in an ext. HDD, is the
downloads automatically stored in
the ext. HDD?
Is the WiiU firmware at 2015 allows 2 USB HDD to connect simultaneously?
Nostremitus
Member
1. You shouldn't disconnect the drive while the console is on.
2. Once you plug it in, you'll have to format it to Nintendo's proprietary file system, then it automatically starts using it.
3. Yes, you can connect 2 but only for file transfer purposes, it won't let you use both.
Dr. Black Jack
Member
Grabbed a Sabrent enclosure off of Amazon for my old computer's 500gb drive to help my finally-full Wii U out. Works great, really love that it has a fan.
Might as well just get this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JKATVM4/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Any USB 3.0 drive is fast enough, it's only USB 2.0 drives that are iffy
I recently bought a Toshiba Canvio 500 GB USB 3.0 Basics Portable Hard Drive off Amazon for my Wii U and it works great. No outside power source and only uses one USB port. More memory than I'll ever need for the Wii U as well. The only problem I've ever had with it is that once the USB became slightly unplugged during movement and the drive didn't work (obviously), but by just pushing the USB back in fully, it worked again.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
I have a couple unused 2.5 SATAs from PS3s that I want to put in enclosures and use as external USB drives (for the Wii U of course). I've never bought any enclosures before, I'm totally new to this. What do you all recommend?
Pokemaniac
Member
The main issue is that you have to make sure the HDD is supplied with enough power. Anything which has its own external power source will work fine. Ones that receive power over USB will almost definitely require a Y cable, since they typically require more power than USB 2.0 provides.
AbandonedTrolley
Member
Did you ever solve this, I'm having the same issue. Almost given up hope of connecting an external drive to it now.
Seth Enosh
Member
Suggestion - try formatting a throwaway USB key as external storage for the Wii U and just confirm that that works (no need to actually use the key, just do the Wii U format and then format it on your PC/Mac again). This will show if the Wii U is able to format anything or if it's just the specific hard drive you're using is at fault.
After our old (5-6 years) AC power HDD died, we moved on to a portable USB powered drive. The AC powered one was fine until it started to die, which is when we would see issues with almost every game.
We use a Y-cable for for the new HDD and it runs well. The only issue I ever see with it is when playing large videos in Smash 4, it will drop frames. I have 250 hours of Smash 4, 80 hours of Splatoon, 50 hours of Mario Kart 8, among a lot of other small titles played on it and I can't complain.
I've been using Verbatim Store'n'go 500 GB for a while with Y cable without any problem
The_Afroman
Member
if i wanted to migrate to a new HDD is there a way to move stuff from one HDD to another?
Nostremitus
Member
Yes, plug the new HDD in to the Wii U and transfer everything from the old drive to the new one.
My new External Drive: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YFI1EBC/?tag=neogaf0e-20 Go it during the sale yesterday for $30.
I've used the Sandisk 32GB and 64GB Ultra Fits on my Wii U with no issues thus far, They are almost tiny enough to close the gate on the front of the Wii U and hide completely.
I've used the Sandisk 32GB and 64GB Ultra Fits on my Wii U with no issues thus far, They are almost tiny enough to close the gate on the front of the Wii U and hide completely.
After moving over to the 128GB stick and re-downloading things I didnt have downloaded I only have 23GB left. I may have too many games.
I can't seem to get the Wii U to format my hard drive. It's a Western Digital Passport Elite External 500GB WD5000MLC connected with a y-cable. The Wii U sees it and prompts me to format but then says "This device cannot be formatted." The drive itself seems fine from all the diagnostic tools I tried, it works perfectly on both PC and 360. Is there something fundamentally incompatible with the Wii U about it?
Pancakes R Us
Member
Nice! I have the 64GB one on the back of my Wii U. I don't want a big HDD hanging off it. Also, I've moved to retail discs now anyway, so this is mainly for VC and Wii downloads, along with the few Wii U games I have.
protomouse
Member
Ah yes, Western Digital. They enjoy making the use of their products a living hell. Your drive probably contains what WD like to call a "SmartWare Virtual CD (VCD) partition". This partition will show up as a CD-ROM drive under Windows, and is write-protected by firmware. You can verify its existence using the Windows Device Manager.
There is no official way to remove the VCD partition, but it can be disabled. I recommend you try doing that, as its presence might confuse the Wii U. WD provide instructions on their site. Heed their advice and upgrade your drive's firmware before proceeding.
If this doesn't work, I'm afraid you're SOL. If you're in continental Europe, I can recommend RaidSonic 2.5" enclosures. Their enclosures, unlike many others, provide the option for 5V DC power. I purchased their IB-231StU-G, which can be had for ~10 on Amazon. For DC power, an AC adapter must be purchased separately and it must provide positive-tip DC polarity (the manual doesn't say, so I had to find that out myself).
This is an older drive that doesn't seem to have a VCD partition, as far as I can see in disk management and device manager. It definitely didn't have Smartware before, as the Smartware VCD manager and Smartware tools don't even recognize it. I did write zeros to it and reinitialized it beforehand to make sure it was as clean as I could get it, but the Wii U refused to format it. I guess I'm just SOL, though I have no idea why.
Pokemaniac
Member
You'd probably need to use a Y-cable with it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YFI1EBC/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Sandisk 128 GB tiny USB drive. $40, so the price per GB isn't the best, but it is low profile and I've never had a blip using one as my extra storage.
Sandisk 128 GB tiny USB drive. $40, so the price per GB isn't the best, but it is low profile and I've never had a blip using one as my extra storage.
I used an external enclosure, the HGST 500 GB hard drive that was lying around after upgrading my PS3, and a Y cable to hook my Wii U up with storage. Replacing my self-powered hard drive saved me a lot of space in my entertainment center. Granted, I was worried about compatibility and performance. But so far everything is working fine.
Pokemaniac
Member
Extra space is a pretty good problem to have with hard drives. It's actually much better than just barely enough space.
Nostremitus
Member
I ended up buying a 2TB Buffalo drive when it was one sale a few years ago. I've barely scratched its capacity; but it was a good deal and I don't ever have to worry about deleting or moving anything.
kidtamagotchi
Member
So, I'm going to buy an external HDD for Fatal Frame and Xenoblade. I am choosing between a Toshiba and Seagate desktop external HDD. The Seagate is a bit more pricey. Which one is more reliable?
HUELEN10
Member
kidtamagotchi
Member
Thanks!
chicagocubsfan
Member
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152272
So I have this external, but it's not connecting with my Wii U.
What do I need to do to make it work?
So I have this external, but it's not connecting with my Wii U.
What do I need to do to make it work?
Mithos
Member
Maybe a Y-cable to use 2 usb-slots to draw power from (unless you already have that)?
DragonGirl
Member
I've been shopping for a relatively cheap (under $100) external for my Wii U for a while now and it's driving me a little mad. I want an external with the ac. I don't have a problem plugging it into the wall for power. I've been up and down Amazon's site and can't find anything that says it comes with a power cord, it's all USB even when I search for "powered HDDs". I don't want anything over a terabyte. Anyone have a specific product they could suggest?
Edit: Bleh, gave up and ordered a WD 1 TB drive and a Y cable.
Edit: Bleh, gave up and ordered a WD 1 TB drive and a Y cable.
Well I've needed an external HD for my basic WiiU for ages and ages but with the Cloud announcement and me wanting to be able to play MK8 and Smash lately (I pretty much can only play one game at a time because of the space and big updates and DLC and yadayadayada) it's time I finally got it. Was tempted to try get one in a store today but had one in my basket on Amazon for a few days for a pretty cheap price and checked today and it went down further and getting a simple cheap Y cable isn't easy here apparently so it's easier.
Samsung M3 1TB 3.0 - £39
Samsung M3 1TB 3.0 - £39
Marty Chinn
Member
Anyone know what's the best way to hook up a HD with a Y cable and an ethernet adapter too? That's two ports for three plugs. USB hub?
Pokemaniac
Member
Wii U has 4 USB ports. There are 2 under the flap on the front.
Marty Chinn
Member
I don't want stuff sticking out the front so they are useless and non existent to me. How can I utilize the two in the back?
Pokemaniac
Member
In that case, you'll have to use a USB hub. Preferably one with it's own power source.
FunkyDealer
Banned
I can confirm a non-powered USB hub will work, as I've tried it myself. But I would still recommend going with a mains-powered one to be on the safe side.
I've not tried it long-term, as it was part of an experiment for using the same cable as the XBO, but the Xbox for some reason had trouble recognising the ethernet cable with the splitter I used. Especially when the Wii U was running. Weird but true.
Pokemaniac
Member
An Ethernet "splitter" is not going to work terribly well, since there's nothing to prevent collisions. What you actually want to use is in that case would be an unmanaged network switch.