As we all know, Nintendo's intention with the Wii U when it comes to storage is to let the user decide. Rather than equip the console with a massive hard drive, it has instead enabled owners to plug in their own solutions. The thinking behind this move is that storage is so cheap these days, most people have at least a couple of portable hard drives lying around the house.
If you're not lucky enough to one of those people, you might want to consider the Oyen Digital MiniPro Hard Drive. It has 1TB capacity and is clad in black metal, which neatly matches the premium model of Nintendo's console. It even has a blue power LED — just like the Wii U — to complete the look.
Setting up the Oyen Digital MiniPro is a breeze — as you'll know if you've already plugged any other form of storage into your console. The drive comes with a handy sheet which explains the process in detail, and will help those who are a little nervous about interfacing foreign pieces of tech with their beloved home hardware.
The Oyen Digital MiniPro can be powered either by the bundled power supply or by using both USB ports on the Wii U itself. If you're concerned with stability and the potential of data loss then it's recommended that you use the former option, but being able to power the drive entirely by USB is a much neater — and undeniably attractive — choice.
You can purchase the Oyen Digital MiniPro from Amazon for just over $100. That's a lot of cash for something that many Nintendo critics insist should have been part of the console from day one, but dedicated downloaders will no doubt have already filled the 32GB memory of the premium system and won't grumble too much about the price.
The Oyen Digital MiniPro is well built, attractive and works just as expected — and makes for a sensible solution if you're looking to really go mad with your Wii U eShop downloads.
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[source amazon.com, via oyendigital.com]
Comments 51
Hm, an external power supply seems to be a must, sadly. I'll buy a drive one day, but the storage per dollar ratio is a bit steep on this one - there's always 1tb drives out there for about 60 euros.
Physical disc media solves me having to buy this drive as well as finding an empty wall socket for it to plug into.
I want to start earning points for my wii u, so i'll need one.. Just certainly won't need an entire TB.
I don't download my games so don't need it yet unless we start to see more eshop games available
Good review though! Will pick one up if I ever run outta space!
I doubt a TB is really necessary, but it does look very nice...
I think this is a much better match for the Wii U:
http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Essential-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B0041OSQ9S/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1363623770&sr=8-11&keywords=passport+hard+drive
It has exactly the same shiny black look, and the only light on it is white, matching the disc light on the Wii U perfectly. It doesn't require any power supply other than the single USB connection, supports USB 3.0 (if you ever want to use it with something other than the Wii U) and is far less expensive. That's the way I'd go.
waht about jsut using a 64gig SD card with the delexe set should be enough?
Meh, I really don't understand that the Wii U hasn't 500GB (or even 320) HDD like ps3. It is not that they are that expensive (you may find some 320's for 50 euros here). Perhaps in a hardware revision.
@Luffy That's a good idea. Is it possible to play e-shop downloads from SD? I think I read that it is not possible but I am not sure.
hmm not sure. I just read nintendo site only SDHC 32 gig cards are compatible. So I'll pick one up and test it out. I have a deluxe set.
SDXC and above 32gigs not compatible
i think i'm just going to go with a usb adapter for SD Cards~
I'm holding out for now. I've downloaded almost every eShop only game thus far (with the exception of Kens Rage and Aurora) and I'm pretty set on staying with disks for now, do space on the 32gb system really isn't an issue.
I ended up grabbing the 1TB Western Digital drive on the compatible list at Staples for $55. Works like a dream and matches my Black Wii U perfectly, blue LED and all.
http://www.amazon.ca/Kingston-Digital-microSDHC-SDC4-32GB/dp/B0046XAROG/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1363624909&sr=8-10
this should work right? i want micro with SD adapter is a better buy cuz it can be used for most other electronics in the future.
I am going back and forth between digital and disc I like both, I have a 320 gig from game stop it's super fast. It has a y cable and I have had no problems.
@Luffy Nintendo does not recommend SD cards for additional storage because they have a limited number of read/write cycles. So if you use it to store a game you will end up burning it through normal use. That is why the external HD is better because you can read/write/delete to a much greater degree.
oh ok thanks. I just watched a video on youtube a guy used SD card USB adapter and the wii U treats it like a usb. Is this true?
just buy disc,i have games i bought from xbox live that i hardly touch,disc is the best and you have a proper copy that you can take about with you,i use sd card for all my snes,n64,nes games from eshop.
I bought a Toshiba 2TB ext. HDD. It was on sale for $99.99, when 1TB costed $80-90. There's a smaller version of the one I have, but it costs $160. $60 more just to be more compact...
It's black and has a blue LED as well.
Digital media should be cheaper than physical media. Then I would purchase a drive. Right now, I am using a 32 gig USB stick for eshop game demos. With digital games you can't trade them in after you are done. Or you can't give them to friends. Like ebooks, digital games should be cheaper than physical media. I can see Getting an external hard disk for indie games that will never be available in physical form.
@strongest_link A couple of things here. External HDDs powered by a single USB are not compatible on Wii U. The USB pots on the Wii U simply do not power enough to use any HDD that doesn't either plug in to a wall or plug in with 2 USB ports so this HDD is incompatible with Wii U. Also, the USBs on the Wii U are 2.0, not 3.0. So the fact that the HDD you've links supports 3.0 has no extra advantages when used on Wii U.
I'd prefer to just buy discs instead of having to deal with hard drive space issues. I would still get a decently sized hard drive though for any downloadable eshop games I could possibly want. I almost considered getting Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate digital based but I decided that I would rather have a hard physical copy of retail games. Not to mention that the game requires quite a few blocks to download in the first place.
It's nice that this drive comes with the USB y-cable included. I tried to get my USB powered drive working on Wii U but it couldn't draw enough power.
Thankfully eBay has a nice selection of reasonably priced y-cables. Even USB 3.0 style ones.
looks great! i bought a 4GB SD card just to increase the storage by little bit, because 32gb is nothing, but i will keep a close eye on this, since i might need it in a year or 2
Just like SD cards for the Wii, it was only a matter of time before they started making hard drives marketed as being "for the Wii U." I'm not doubting that this is a good product, but things like this always miff me. They're clearly trying to confuse the less savvy customer into thinking that this form of storage is proprietary, and they can charge higher prices because of it.
To quote Mr. Horse, "No sir, I don't like it."
I just looked at the link on Amazon, and my ext. HDD is about twice as big, but has twice as much memory. It also costs the same. I guess it's really up to the buyer, but I think you're mainly buying this for $40 more for being compact compared to other 1TB ext HDDs that cost $60.
@gatorboi352 I did know that the Wii U USB ports were USB 2.0. I did not know that the Wii U would only work with hard drives that were powered externally. That's pretty stupid. Thanks for the information.
My Seagate 2tb only cost £67 from amazon, black finish to match Premium WiiU, Blue LED light.
Its only powered by Mains tho and is a bit bigger than the one in this story being a 3.5 drive, but seems to be better value for money
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-STBV2000200-Expansion-External-Drive/dp/B0084LZI5Y
If I'm getting an external HDD, it's gotta be white and under $50, because I bought the basic, because wiis are white and I am cheap.
Just an FYI, in truth, it's probably more like 800-900GB (due to how hard drives are advertised - a terabyte is 1024GB, but to hard drive manufacturers, a terabyte is well below that). It's still plenty though.
It's just something that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth whenever I buy a hard drive.
@Luffy The Wii U can support up to 2 TB on a single external memory unit.
Hmm... I got the BUFFALO MiniStation Stealth 1 TB portable and it's perfect. Under $100, I got it even cheaper than the listed price because I went through Amazon Warehouse Deals (it was obviously someone's return). With a Y cable, there's no need for a power outlet (I couldn't spare one at the time). It's always plugged in, flashes a neat blue like my Wii U deluxe, and right now it's dutifully letting me download LEGO City: Undercover.
I played Assassin's Creed III in its entirety from that drive without any issue.
honestly for me the 32gb hdd that came with the WiiU is fine because i don't really download games especially retail games i always prefer a physical product
the only thing's i really download are demo's and once my usage for those is over i delete them
of course this may change in the future but as there really isn't anything i want of the Nintendo eShop i don't need a external hdd
@Luffy, yes that is true.
Each game you buy from eShop gives cash back until the end of 2014. As much as I like a physical copy, this deal is worth it for me to make an exception.
Or you could buy a physical copy of the game that doesn't take up much hard drive space and has a monetary resale value.
The price of space never has problems amazing me on a monthly basis. To think that they sell this thing for only 100 bucks, dang! I'd like to see someone try to by any 1tb hard drive for 100 bucks three years ago.
@Robo-goose I'm more amazed by how much storage you can fit into such a small space these days. I remember when 30GB-80GB hdds were the norm while these days you can buy tiny chips bigger than that.
I'd rather stick with physical media when I, most of the games I'll buy digital will be digital only anyway. If I do get a hdd I'll wait until I upgrade my laptop's hdd and just buy an external case unless I pop it into my PS3 indstead.
It's weird to think that while I'm eligible for the Deluxe points promotion I'm still likely going to buy the majority of my Wii U games from a brick and mortar store or Amazon. I just can't get over titles being tied to my console as opposed to being tied to my Nintebdo network ID. If they fix that I'll go all digital like I have on my PS3.
I bought a 1TB off of Amazon for $64. It works really well. I tend to like a lot of download-only titles so it made sense for me to buy it. I have a basic Wii U I bought for $200 so the combined cost of the items was less than $300. If nothing else, I see myself needing a lot of space for VC games!
@RandomNerds The biggest cause of console failures is due to Media Drive failure.
Hopefully Nintendo will make it so drm licences are linked to you Nintendo id, but in some respects by going download only/mainly your reducing the risk of console failure.
If your HDD fails you can simply buy a new one and re-download any games/DLC you have brought and the DRM is intact as your still using the original console.
The Downside is if you do have to relace your HDD then you lose all your game saves, where as (I believe.. so correct if wrong) If your console fails Nintendo will transfer DRM rights and Game saves to the replacement console, or repair your console and send the same one back to you.
HDD failures are a let less frequent than media drive failures though.
When I get a Wii U I will definitely pick up an external hard drive, albeit not one this big since I do not plan on downloading full retail games considering their large megabyte size and my rather slow internet for downloading.
I got a 1TB Western Digital Passbook from Best Buy on sale for 60-some-odd dollars and a USB Y-Cable. Works great!
@Dpullam I agree completely.
I think this is great you guys are reviewing hardware that isn't proprietary to Nintendo! I would like to see more reviews like this for products that tie-in to Nintendo stuff.
I HAVE A 2TB WESTERN DIGITAL HARD DRIVE AND WORKS VERY GOOD HAVE NO PROBLEMS
Ordered mine last weekend. Down to 15GB in my Wii U already!
@strongest_link no it works with western digital just the usb no external power needed.
How about an SSD?
A/C-powered desktop hard drive rather than a USB-powered portable drive
Is it an A/C-powered desktop hard drive rather than a USB-powered portable drive
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