Topic: What is a good HHD to use on a WiiU

I am looking for one that's quite cheap and also works well. I'm currently having to rotate around 3 32GB USB flash drives lol.

It's not recommended to use flash drives IIRC. It's fine for backup, moving saves, updates, and downloads to and from the Wii U and flash drive. I think it has more to do with limited write and rewrites, and possible data corruption.

Personally, I use a 2TB Western Digital My Book. A hard drive with an external power source is what Nintendo recommends, so look for something like that. I'm just going by what I know and use.

Yes, Nintendo only recommend hard drives with their own power supply. I also use a 2TB MyBook.

The problem with USB powered drives is that the USB ports only support the minimum spec of 500 mA current draw, where most hard drives need a fair bit more than that.

A cheaper alternative is to use a USB Y-cable so a drive can draw from two ports. This should give just enough to run most 2.5" drives, although it's still technically under-spec compared to the 1.5A you'd get from a typical USB charging+data port.

I persevered for years trying to use memory cards in a USB adapter, and then a USB-powered hard drive, but ultimately it was always dogged with problems. Eventually I gave in and bought a 2tb WD My Book and that has been fine.

If you're serious about Wii U external storage, get a My Book.

@Sunsy https://www.westerndigital.com/en-gb/products/recertified/por...
Will this be okay? I am wanting to save some money lol

@komi 2TB is fine, the only problem I'm seeing with this HHD is the lack of a power supply. AFAIK, you need an external hard drive with a power source. You need the hard drive to plug into the Wii U, but also the hard drive plugging into a power outlet. At least that's what I know.

I do see @Matt_Barber mention use of a Y cable, so maybe he knows more about this kind of HHD with the Wii U.

@komi That one doesn't have its own power supply, so you would need to use it with a Y-cable.

I've never done that myself, but I know people who've been using that kind of setup for a few years and it seems to work for them.

@Matt_Barber @Sunsy thank you both for the help

@komi You're welcome, whatever you pick for a Wii U HDD, hope it works out whichever route you go.

If anyone else has any experience with Wii U hard drives, hope they can provide more input too.

USB 2.0 and I wouldn't waste money on anything above 500 GB unless you have a massive amount of digital games purchased or that's all you can find at a good price.
I have a Suhasi 120 GB and haven't had problems yet. I don't think I will ever come close to running out of space since the eShop shut down and you can't install physical games to storage.

Well... that's one way of looking at it.

Another perspective is that there's a certain logic to minimising use of the disc drive (to extend its longevity) by using custom firmware to install your entire physical Wii U library (plus Wii, GameCube, DS etc. games) on the biggest hard drive you can get.