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[Boss Doggie]

I know Wii U can't use SD cards to store games (stupid I know), but it can through USB storage. However, flash drives are a no-no due to limited read/write. Apparently that's not the case for SD cards.

So I wonder - is it viable to use USB card readers for Wii U storage? Like, if I use a class 10 micro SD with my USBcard reader, it should work, right? I just want to play Bayonetta 2 damn it.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

Yeah that would work, it would just identify as USB mass storage device. You can use USB flash drives if you want as well -- they're just not recommended due to bad perf and being made of binned NAND so they're far more likely to fail.

 

[NewVegasDog]

I know Wii U can't use SD cards to store games (stupid I know), but it can through USB storage. However, flash drives are a no-no due to limited read/write. Apparently that's not the case for SD cards.

So I wonder - is it viable to use USB card readers for Wii U storage? Like, if I use a class 10 micro SD with my USBcard reader, it should work, right? I just want to play Bayonetta 2 damn it.

Yes it is possible, but performance can vary though.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Yeah that would work, it would just identify as USB mass storage device. You can use USB flash drives if you want as well -- they're just not recommended due to bad perf and being made of binned NAND so they're far more likely to fail.

I thought it was due to limited read/write?

Yes it is possible, but performance can vary though.

In what way it would vary though? Wouldn't class 10 make it viable?

 

[Garou]

Just get a small 2.5" hard drive for ~50 bucks, that will save you any headaches in the future.

 

[DrFaustPhD]

That's what I've been doing, no problems so far. Got the fastest 64gb sony SD card available during an Amazon sale a while ago and use it on a cheap usb reader. It's what I play Mario Kart off of (and that game has been my addiction since ot came out) and haven't had any problems.

 

[Sorcerer]

I am sort of fascinated with this SSD Thumbdrive.

http://techreport.com/news/27257/visiontek-new-usb-3-0-thumb-drive-has-ssd-performance

My question is since this is SSD will it be just as bad as using a regular thumb drive on the Wii U due to limited amount of read/writes or does that not apply here?

I know its not practical because I can get 2tb for less than a 100 bucks, but I am very curious about the tech.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Do SDHC work?

Just get a small 2.5" hard drive for ~50 bucks, that will save you any headaches in the future.

There're no cheap harddrives here lately. Most are 70 bucks.

 

[Dryk]

It's a pity that as far as I can tell Nintendo don't allow you to store save data for externally stored games on the internal memory. Then you wouldn't have to worry about wearing out your storage against their recommendations.

 

[dallow_bg]

The limited read/writes is nonsense guys. You'll never reach that theoretical limit.

I thought it was due to limited read/write?



In what way it would vary though? Wouldn't class 10 make it viable?

Flash drive will outlast you more than likely.
I use a quality one and it's perfectly fine. Lots of people do. Using an SD card is no different.

 

[Boss Doggie]

It's a pity that as far as I can tell Nintendo don't allow you to store save data for externally stored games on the internal memory. Then you wouldn't have to worry about wearing out your storage against their recommendations.

Yeah sadly they don't. Hence why my bro not allowing me to delete Wind Waker lol

Flash drive will outlast you more than likely.
I use a quality one and it's perfectly fine. Lots of people do. Using an SD card is no different.

What's with the read/write limit tho?

Also it's hard to gauge flash drive speed/transfer

 

[Boss Doggie]

Sorry to bump, but how does one refer to the read/write speed of a flash drive? Or is it merely the 2.0 and 3.0?

 

[chaosblade]

Sorry to bump, but how does one refer to the read/write speed of a flash drive? Or is it merely the 2.0 and 3.0?

Wii U only supports USB 2.0, and I'm pretty sure the speed is going to be limited by that bandwidth and not the read/write speed of the actual flash memory.

I would recommend you heed Nintendo's advice regarding flash drives. I've seen at least a couple people lose all their data, not sure what it is that causes it though. They say limited read/writes but it's extremely unlikely you would run into that issue.

Not sure if a SD card would work via card reader, I'd say if at all possible stick with officially compatible means of storage (aka, external HDD). Unless you are going all digital you don't need anything huge and can probably pick up something reasonably sized cheap around Black Friday.

 

[Boss Doggie]

I would get an external HDD. Problem is that they're not much abundant here nowadays.

SD cards have been confirmed to work, so I'm going for that. I simply asked for flash drive speed since people said it worked.

 

[FunkyMunkey]

The limited read/writes is nonsense guys. You'll never reach that theoretical limit.

Flash drive will outlast you more than likely.
I use a quality one and it's perfectly fine. Lots of people do. Using an SD card is no different.

Truth right here. I was in the same pickle a short while ago but after doing some research, there's no way a you'll ever reach that read/write limit. A flash drive will work fine if needed.

Wii U only supports USB 2.0.

Yes but you can still plug a USB 3.0 flash drive into it and it will work fine just won't get USB 3.0 speeds iirc.

So I can pretty much just buy any flash drive as long as it's 2.0? There's no other specifics I should look up?

I would at least get/use one with decent read/write speeds. Here's a 64GB USB 3.0 for only $25 that is pretty good. There's always the chance it could fail, more so than an external, but still very very good odds it won't. (But yes I'm pretty sure you could just use any old USB 2.0, but someone correct me if I'm wrong )

 

[Boss Doggie]

Truth right here. I was in the same pickle a short while ago but after doing some research, there's no way a you'll ever reach that read/write limit. A flash drive will work fine if needed.

Yes but you can still plug a USB 3.0 flash drive into it and it will work fine just won't get USB 3.0 speeds iirc.

So I can pretty much just buy any flash drive as long as it's 2.0? There's no other specifics I should look up?

 

[Boss Doggie]

I would at least get/use one with decent read/write speeds. Here's a 64GB USB 3.0 for only $25 that is pretty good. There's always the chance it could fail, more so than an external, but still very very good odds it won't. (But yes I'm pretty sure you could just use any old USB 2.0, but someone correct me if I'm wrong )

Yeah, but where can I see this read-write speed info?

 

[FunkyMunkey]

Yeah, but where can I see this read-write speed info?

Oops I didn't point it out, someone analyzed it in one of the amazon reviews:

The benchmark showed up quite nice as well.

Sequential Read : 197.193 MB/s
Sequential Write : 104.529 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 151.087 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 32.768 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 4.596 MB/s [ 1122.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.110 MB/s [ 26.8 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 5.005 MB/s [ 1221.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.085 MB/s [ 20.6 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [F: 0.1% (0.1/119.2 GB)] (x5)

Not sure how exactly accurate, but most will be similar unless you buy some $5 off-brand drive or something.

Edit: Some people are questioning those speeds in the review while others agree with them, so I don't know. But you won't really notice a difference while playing games off of it if they are a tad lower. You'll be safe with whatever you go with as I think the Wii U has limited speeds anyways (2.0).

 

[Boss Doggie]

All right.

I just need my Bayonetta 2 fix and it looks like something's up with the SEA distributor, so this will scratch my itch.

 

[serverny]

Modern SD cards use same algorithms as SSDs to prolong their life.
So as long as you use any non-trash brands SD card it will likely outlive your Wii U.

Also, its not like SD cards die "suddenly" - you can use number of utils that will say how many "dead" blocks it has currently and make a decision if its time to backup your save data and replace a card.

P.S. if you use HDD you have actually higher risk of losing data due to malfunction
Statistics say that "high quality desktop class" HDDs break more often than flash based solutions.