Increasing my Wii U's memory

[DarklordKyo]

I'm excited for Xenoblade Chronicles X, and I plan on using a significant portion of December playing as much of it as possible. Unfortunately, to get the most of it, I may need to download the optional install data provided to decrease load times. To that end, considering a large amount of my Wii U's 32GB storage is taken up by Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, I'm thinking of saving up for an external hard drive.

That said, some that're actually promoted by Nintendo themselves are apparently pretty pricey. Can anyone recommend a good, affordable hard drive for my Wii U? If possible, put some of these into account:

1. I would prefer a 500 GB drive at most, since, as someone who primarily uses discs for his consoles, anything in the terabyte range feels like overkill.

2. While I don't mind saving upwards of $100 if necessary, one at a relatively affordable 50-80 range is preferable (so long as low cost doesn't compromise quality).

3. I don't mind investing in a Y-cable to power it through the console (hook one end to the drive, the other two to the console's USB ports, that sort of thing), so recommending one that can be powered that way would be much appreciated.

I hope this thread will give me good recommendations, and thank you for your time if you decide to recommend one.

 

[Guffe]

I have a 500GB hardrive as my external memory for the WiiU.
It is working perfectly and is almost 8 years of age... I'm a bit scared it will die at any time to be honest, even if workin like a charm :/
I've seen similar for about 50-80? here in Finland.

As for the power, I first tried a new one that was just USB powered via the WiiU. One cable from Harddrive to WiiU and the WiiU couldn't handle it, 5 minutes in and the WiiU would turn of and give an error message. I googled it and it said the messae meant the WiiU didn't receive enough power, so too much of the energy went into giving the harddrive the power it needed and the WiiU didn't get enough juice.

Then I got my good old one out, which has its own powercable, and there have been no problems with it. Since then I've DL:ed most my games. I guess 16GB per (big)game and then the indiestuff means I have about 150GB worth of WiiU games on it.

So yeah, get one, definetly worth it, but make sure it has its own powercable.

 

[DarklordKyo]

I have a 500GB hardrive as my external memory for the WiiU.
It is working perfectly and is almost 8 years of age... I'm a bit scared it will die at any time to be honest, even if workin like a charm :/
I've seen similar for about 50-80? here in Finland.

As for the power, I first tried a new one that was just USB powered via the WiiU. One cable from Harddrive to WiiU and the WiiU couldn't handle it, 5 minutes in and the WiiU would turn of and give an error message. I googled it and it said the messae meant the WiiU didn't receive enough power, so too much of the energy went into giving the harddrive the power it needed and the WiiU didn't get enough juice.

Then I got my good old one out, which has its own powercable, and there have been no problems with it. Since then I've DL:ed most my games. I guess 16GB per (big)game and then the indiestuff means I have about 150GB worth of WiiU games on it.

So yeah, get one, definetly worth it, but make sure it has its own powercable.

I know it's worth it, the question was if anyone can give any specific recommendations.

 

[Roboshi]

I have a 500GB hardrive as my external memory for the WiiU.
It is working perfectly and is almost 8 years of age... I'm a bit scared it will die at any time to be honest, even if workin like a charm :/
I've seen similar for about 50-80? here in Finland.

As for the power, I first tried a new one that was just USB powered via the WiiU. One cable from Harddrive to WiiU and the WiiU couldn't handle it, 5 minutes in and the WiiU would turn of and give an error message. I googled it and it said the messae meant the WiiU didn't receive enough power, so too much of the energy went into giving the harddrive the power it needed and the WiiU didn't get enough juice.

Then I got my good old one out, which has its own powercable, and there have been no problems with it. Since then I've DL:ed most my games. I guess 16GB per (big)game and then the indiestuff means I have about 150GB worth of WiiU games on it.

So yeah, get one, definetly worth it, but make sure it has its own powercable.

I know it's worth it, the question was if anyone can give any specific recommendations.

I believe nintendo has a page on their website that lists the approved external hard drives.

 

[Guffe]

snap

So yeah, get one, definetly worth it, but make sure it has its own powercable.

I know it's worth it, the question was if anyone can give any specific recommendations.

Oh... sory about that

Well as far as I know, as long as it has a usb cable and a powercable you should be good to go.
I guess stuff like brand is pretty much up to you and how much you want to pay.
I can't remember what brand mine is, and I am movin at the moment so it's somewhere in a corner in a big box...
I guess I can't be of more use than this :/

 

[MetalDooley]

I use this Toshiba 500gb one and it works perfectly with a USB Y cable

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-HDTB305EK3AA-Canvio-Portable-External/dp/B00KWHJT7Q/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

I think it cost me about ?65 including postage but it seems to be a bit cheaper now

So yeah, get one, definetly worth it, but make sure it has its own powercable.

It doesn't need it's own power source if you use on of these USB Y cables.It plugs into both USB ports at the back of the Wii U and one powers the hard-drive while the other handles data transfer
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IP8QIUK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

 

[Cold Shiny]

I didn't fully read what everyone else said, but there is one extremely important thing you need to know.

DO NOT buy a portable drive. The WiiU can't handle powering itself and a drive, you have to get one with its own power source.

 

[MetalDooley]

I didn't fully read what everyone else said, but there is one extremely important thing you need to know.

DO NOT buy a portable drive. The WiiU can't handle powering itself and a drive, you have to get one with its own power source.

No a portable drive works fine if you use a USB Y cable with it.I've been using one for about 2 years now with absolutely no problems

 

[Leg End]

1. I would prefer a 500 GB drive at most, since, as someone who primarily uses discs for his consoles, anything in the terabyte range feels like overkill.

Funny enough, we're getting to the point where 500GB drives are mostly as expensive as a 1TB.

2. While I don't mind saving upwards of $100 if necessary, one at a relatively affordable 50-80 range is preferable (so long as low cost doesn't compromise quality).

Bam. Just buy a Y cable and you're good. Though, I've never been too trusting of the idea myself and would rather use something that relies on an independent source of power.

3. I don't mind investing in a Y-cable to power it through the console (hook one end to the drive, the other two to the console's USB ports, that sort of thing), so recommending one that can be powered that way would be much appreciated.

Basically above, as most can be powered that way.

Hope you enjoy whatever drive you end up picking. Just don't get a Seagate.

 

[Schadrach]

I know it's worth it, the question was if anyone can give any specific recommendations.

Given your constraints, I'm really bad for this, but the person you replied to has the most important criteria down. The WiiU doesn't supply enough power on it's USB ports, so you absolutely must get one with a separate power cable. Other than that, there's less difference between major brands than you might imagine.

I tend to go overboard with storage which makes me a bad choice for advice on this, the external hard disk on my current PC is a http://www.startech.com/HDD/Enclosures/35in-4-Drive-eSATA-USB-FireWire-External-SATA-RAID-Enclosure~S354UFER set to RAID 5 with 4x 3TB WD RED drives in it. I'm using about half of the space on it, but I need to do some spring cleaning eventually...maybe in another few terabytes.

3. I don't mind investing in a Y-cable to power it through the console (hook one end to the drive, the other two to the console's USB ports, that sort of thing), so recommending one that can be powered that way would be much appreciated.

I've specifically had bad luck with these on the WiiU. Might just be bad luck on my part.

 

[ultrabiome]

Although not recommended by Nintendo, I defiantly decided that I didn't want the power draw or the bulk of a disk-based hard drive and bought a 64 GB memory stick before Mario Maker came out due to my 32 GB internal containing Pikmin 3, Punch-Out! and Metroid Prime Trilogy (plus various indies/VC).

I didn't do research on the best memory stick for this job, but bought a brand I recognized and checked the ratings of that particular stick (USB 2.0 made it relatively cheap). The main reason Nintendo doesn't recommend solid state memory like memory sticks is due to eventual memory degradation (Nintendo likes long-term solutions), but I've been using mine now for a couple of months without issue. If I do start having issues, I might purchase a disk-based solution, but I have had zero issues so far.