Topic: Expanding the Wii U's Memory

It worked, but it was slower. I've gotten around twice as fast read speeds from the portable version running off of y-cable. I may have gotten a slightly damaged drive, but if I did, it was because of the desktop version not having shock sensors, which make the portable drive more durable. I'm running the fullest speeds I can possibly get with this drive, so I have no complaints.

So if anyone plans on getting an external HDD, I would suggest getting one with shock sensors/drop protection, at least. The portable drives are also MUCH smaller and only require one cable(the y-cable) to work, so it's a lot more convenient for me to carry around.

There are 2 additional USB drives on the front of the console. You could use those for an external hard drive with a Y cable. Alternatively, you could use a single USB in back by picking up a micro USB drive (against the advisement of Nintendo, but many have taken this route). They make them small, like wireless dongles, which barely protrude at all.

Personally though, I'd just get a good router and dump the ethernet, freeing up the USB in back.

So I am just wondering if I am missing something here.

I have removed all the game data from most of my games copied to a usb pendrive. (Just because I don't trust hdd's). Removed it.

But keeping a copy of it on the internal as well seems like it would work. (It says the one it uses is the one on the usb if they are on both).

When I get to 100% on something if I delete everything but the save and copy it then reinstall then I have a backup of my save. (Everybody gave me the impression that couldn't be done).

Is there something I am missing here ?

How about just sticking in a 128GB USB flash drive? That would be comparable in price to a USB HD, and still way bigger than the standard system memory (8G or 32G). I realize a "real" hard disk is faster than consumer grade flash sticks, but if the Wii U only has USB 2.0 ports then you're really limited by the USB port rather than any modern storage you plug in.

Well looking at prices a fairly decent and decently priced 128GB thumbdrive is ~$90AU while external HDDs start at ~$60AU for 500GB. Ontop of that the fact that while this perception that HDDs are unreliable is based on some truth thumbdrives are even worse. Mostly because they're built to be used as something to carry data from A to B easily and cheaply as possible rather than something to constantly read from or to backup data to.

Not sure speed will affect any... I have a 2TB buffalo DriveStation (Axis? Too lazy to get up and look) that was recommended by Nintendo, and it works wonders. I have downloaded well over sixty titles and play quite often (if it's not me, it's my wife). Also, I believe that using a flash drive is not recommended by the user manual...

I've got one of these as well, no issues, though I daresay if I didn't already have it as a spare I would have gone for the 1TB.

I use a Seagate portable 1TB for backup with a Y-Cable. I don't like that setup overmuch because the cables aren't very flexible and make it difficult to sit on top of the Wii U, however an alternative would be a powered USB hub I should think, though that does mean another power socket and additional component. Probably a good suggestion for people who find it challenging to find this unusual cable (assuming you're using a portable USB3 HD).

Regarding flash I suspect you've got two issues here: varying read-write speeds and quality of chips affecting read-write numbers. On paper it seems sound, but I've had USB keys become useless after a year or two of use; if you're going to spend money on a quality key and you don't plan on doing more than buying small retail titles, I guess that's fine (or even as a backup for save data if you're not), but surely a 500GB disk wouldn't be that big an investment?