Nostremitus
Member
I connected my 500GB Iomega with a Y-cable, seems good so far...
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Wii U external HDD thread
- Thread starter Christberg
- Start date
Like the hat?
Banned
got the toshiba 1tb drive nintendo has on their website. Ready for the DD future.
shadyspace
Banned
What does a y cable do anyway?
Draws extra power from a second USB slot.
I just got it as well... I think it was like $59 from Amazon?
For anyone wondering how it looks near the system:
It's exactly as wide, has nice little rubber feet, and the blue light is identical to the Wii U's blue light. Same black shiny plastic.
I'd love to put the Wii U on top of it, but it's only half as deep as the console.
Exact same stuff. Got my y cable today but I tried downloading Sonic ASRTransformed and I got an estimated download time of... 22 hours. WTF. Game is about 5gb and I'd say it's been about 30 minutes and download progress is at 7%.
Anybody else experiencing this ridiculousness?
What's really weird is that every time you open the Downloads thingy, it re-calibrates the download time?
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Jeeze these are all so big an expensive. I don't need 1TB. I just want a good one for like $40. Anyone find today?
Mine was only $60 for the 1 TB, and it matches really nicely. The extra $20 to future-proof and get something that is fully supported seems pretty worthwhile.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
If you use it on Wii U, can you only use it on Wii U?
I'd be more interested in the bigger size if I could also back up PC or Xbox stuff on it.
edit: and it doesnt matter if it's 3.0 USB, it'll still work ya?
Thats crazy slow, wtf
I saw yours on Amazon on sale for $60 and knowing that it's of the officially tested models I decided to order. Looks crazy big stacked on the U like that. But I'm already using one of my back USB ports for internet so a y-cable wouldn't be great and saw this has the AC adapter. So quick question about that: Does the hard drive power off or "sleep" when the Wii U is shut down, or are you manually turning the thing on and off all the time (and is doing this even necessary with an AC powered drive?).
Yeah, once it's Wii U formatted, it's Wii U. I'm not hurting for storage on anything else, so that's fine by me. I also intend to only do DD, since I don't like having to change discs ever. It might be annoying to download and install a game once, but once that's over I relish not having to swap media. Especially since I use the GamePad so much in other rooms.
Seems to be fine, despite being USB 3.0. I actually bought it not only because it was cheap, but because Nintendo specifically mentions it as being tested and meeting all specs.
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wiiu/en_na/external_usb_devices.jsp
When the system is off, the drive is off. I can't feel any activity. Turns on when the system does.
The drive itself actually has no power switch at all; the usage is entirely defined by when the Wii U wants to use it. It's all very seamless.
ahh great to hear. was bummed that the 2 tb i got for a similar price didn't work (or needed a y-cable?) so i was worried the ac was a solution that would have another problem. looks like it matches the u well and i really don't think i'd need a full tb, let alone 2. cool cool.
Even if games are 30 gigs each, the thing's going to be able to hold 33 at that size.
Now, the AC did say on it "May get hot with usage" so there's that. Seems cool to the touch so far, but Toshiba definitely didn't spring for a deluxe part on that front.
Dreamwriter
Member
There is an alternative to using a USB y-adapter for those under-powered drives...though it's pricier. I got a powered USB Hub for mine, fixed the power issue right up with my portable Toshiba Canvio.
But just imagine! If you change your game disc twice a day, and it's an average of 2 minutes per change and disc load... and you do that six times per week... in a year things will have evened out!
...for one game's download time.
Got the Shakes
Member
Y-cable arrived from Amazon a few minutes ago. My 500 gb WD MyPassport seems to be working fine. The Wii U detected it and formatted it quickly, whereas it couldn't be recognized before I had the y-cable.
That looks stylish and you should be proud.I just got it as well... I think it was like $59 from Amazon?
For anyone wondering how it looks near the system:
It's exactly as wide, has nice little rubber feet, and the blue light is identical to the Wii U's blue light. Same black shiny plastic.
I'd love to put the Wii U on top of it, but it's only half as deep as the console.
Just got this HDD in http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178116
Was detected and formatted instantly. Showing 1836GB is free space.
Was detected and formatted instantly. Showing 1836GB is free space.
Holy hell, enjoy.
Like the hat?
Banned
Gotta agree about the toshiba 1tb. Mine is on top, too. Matches great.
GAF, I switched hard drives just to make sure that wasn't causing my 22 hour+ download times (nope, something to do with the internet all right). I want to reformat one of my drives back into my laptop but it's not mounting under "My Computer." I think it's still formatted for the Wii U but I don't know how to get rid of that since I tried deleting every Wii U related thing on there but it will automatically reformat for the console again. The hard drive is showing up just fine under devices and printers though.
Go to Windows Disk Management. There you should be able to manually delete the WiiU partition and create a new NTFS one.
Dreamwriter
Member
Windows 7? What you want to do is right-click on "My Computer", choose Manage, and there's an option for storage. In there you can see that Windows thinks the space on the drive is unallocated, and you are given the option to allocate space for storage.
Thanks beje and Dreamwriter!
About my gargantuan download time of 22 hours for a game, I tried the Toshiba Canvio Basics 500gb usb 3.0 with a Y cable many seem to have here plus another drive with outlet power just to make sure it wasn't the Canvio. My internet seems totally fine and my Wii U is perfectly fine accessing web pages and Miiverse fine. Downloading is a whole other matter and I still don't have my damn digital game due to whatever mess of interrupted internet or power down feature I happen to get into.
GAF, I think Nintendo is internet-bullying me.
About my gargantuan download time of 22 hours for a game, I tried the Toshiba Canvio Basics 500gb usb 3.0 with a Y cable many seem to have here plus another drive with outlet power just to make sure it wasn't the Canvio. My internet seems totally fine and my Wii U is perfectly fine accessing web pages and Miiverse fine. Downloading is a whole other matter and I still don't have my damn digital game due to whatever mess of interrupted internet or power down feature I happen to get into.
GAF, I think Nintendo is internet-bullying me.
Mr.LightMan
Member
Asked a friend to pick up a hard drive and got a Toshiba Canvio 500gig. Is that the one in the op? Cause it says I need a Y cable but its been working fine without one. Do I still get one just to be safe or something?
axisofweevils
Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
If it helps, Nintendo UK have updated their website with their recommended hard drives.
http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/W...es/Compatible-USB-storage-devices-676063.html
http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/W...es/Compatible-USB-storage-devices-676063.html
Some of those models aren't available here and have Portable/Powered versions. So confusing.
I finally just gave up and returned the hard drive to the store and got my money back. I could not figure out how to get that thing to work. How is it that I seem to be the only one here that had a write protected Toshiba hard drive? What could have possibly caused it? Now I'm stuck without a hard drive for my Wii U, and I have no idea if I should bother trying again due to how much of a hassle that was dealing with the last one. I wanted to go all digital with my Wii U, but Nintendo seems to have made it so difficult to go that route, that I don't know if it's worth it.
Bought a Seagate Backup Plus, a USB 3.0 Y cable, and downloaded Mighty Switch Force.
Everything seems to be working fine so far. I'm looking forward to trying a full game at some point.
Everything seems to be working fine so far. I'm looking forward to trying a full game at some point.
InsaneZero
Member
I have a 500 GB HDD in an enclosure that I swapped out from a laptop attached to my Wii U using a USB 2.0 Y cable. I had to format it since it was previously in NTFS, but after that it seems to be downloading and playing just fine.
Got myself NSMBU, Nano Assault Neo, Little Inferno, Trine 2, ZombiU, and Scribblenauts Unlimited all packed in there. Most of the games seem to be loading faster than the Nintendoland that I got in the Deluxe package too.
Got myself NSMBU, Nano Assault Neo, Little Inferno, Trine 2, ZombiU, and Scribblenauts Unlimited all packed in there. Most of the games seem to be loading faster than the Nintendoland that I got in the Deluxe package too.
MagicWithEarvin
Member
There's a 500GB Seagate for $40 shipped at Staples:
http://www.staples.com/Seagate-Back...B-30-External-Hard-Drive-Black/product_757082
Tempted to buy one for Wii U.
http://www.staples.com/Seagate-Back...B-30-External-Hard-Drive-Black/product_757082
Tempted to buy one for Wii U.
Fredrik
Member
Very slick!I just got it as well... I think it was like $59 from Amazon?
For anyone wondering how it looks near the system:
It's exactly as wide, has nice little rubber feet, and the blue light is identical to the Wii U's blue light. Same black shiny plastic.
I'd love to put the Wii U on top of it, but it's only half as deep as the console.
Would it be okay to place it on top of the WiiU like that when it comes to heating/ventilation etc?
Well I feel stupid. I just changed and updated my router settings and everything seems to be A-okay with download times now. Hot damn...
Check if your Router supports DD-WRT custom firmware
Smiles and Cries
Member
Wii U vents are on the right side (Wii U logo) not the top.
UltimateIke
Member
Got a y-cable for my hard drive and formated the drive. Two seconds into copying Nano Assault Neo, I get my second ever Wii U hard lock.
WTF Nintendo.
Nothing appears to be messed up after pulling the plug, and the transfer worked the second time, but freezing up while moving save files is not an okay thing to do!
WTF Nintendo.
Nothing appears to be messed up after pulling the plug, and the transfer worked the second time, but freezing up while moving save files is not an okay thing to do!
I wouldn't do this, depending on how much the disk and hard drives vibrate. But maybe they'll be okay?I just got it as well... I think it was like $59 from Amazon?
For anyone wondering how it looks near the system:
It's exactly as wide, has nice little rubber feet, and the blue light is identical to the Wii U's blue light. Same black shiny plastic.
I'd love to put the Wii U on top of it, but it's only half as deep as the console.
I got one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008R7FC74/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Really small, no external power supply and 1 usb cable. Works great.
Really small, no external power supply and 1 usb cable. Works great.
So, i just hooked up an old 240GB laptop HDD 2.5" from Hitachi, which i put in an old Lacie casing (actually, the casing itself was gone, it was only the SATA2USB interface i had left, so i basically duct taped the HDD to the SATA2USB interface) and plugged it into the WiiU with a Y cable. Works like a charm, lol.
TheLegendOfMart
Banned
Im using an old Xbox 360 120Gb Hitachi drive in a generic £3 case off ebay and its working like a champ.