Hardware Wii u won't detect powered usb sata drive

[Lostbhoy]

Hi guys, need a special type of help here!

I have a rather big 250gb sata drive plugged into my wii u at the moment that has ran everything as it should no probs but the adapter is a friends and he needs it back.

So.... I bought an adapter from ebay to replace it and wanting to move everything onto a 500gb laptop sata. Unfortunately when i plug both into the wii u..... Nothing.

I connected the drive to my friends adapter and was able to format ok but when I go back to my newly purchased adapter..... Nothing. It works on my pc no probs so my question is..... Is the wii u just being a dick to certain adapters? Do i need anything special in an adapter for the wii u to detect it? Its driving me mad!

I believe both adapters are generic however my friends one has a few other input ports such as IDE on it. Thanks for any assistance offered!

 

[jeannotte]

Hello,

Do you plug in like this on the back port? ==>

Do you plug in like this on the front port? ==>

 

[Lostbhoy]

I have tried both ports on the back as my current set up is in the bottom port and works fine. Have not tried the front ports as I was under the impression they wouldn't work for a hdd? (not sure where i got that info tho!)

I am not using a y cable set up either. The current adapter is only in the bottom port with it's own power source. I assumed this one would be the same as the usb cable is hard wired into the device and not removable.

Have tried since partitioning the drive between ntfs and exfat and still get nothing. I think it's mainly just a cheap adapter and i'll have to try a few as I cannot find the exact model of my friends one. (Ugreen usb 3.0 to ide/sata)

 

[jeannotte]

I have tried both ports on the back as my current set up is in the bottom port and works fine. Have not tried the front ports as I was under the impression they wouldn't work for a hdd? (not sure where i got that info tho!)

I am not using a y cable set up either. The current adapter is only in the bottom port with it's own power source. I assumed this one would be the same as the usb cable is hard wired into the device and not removable.

Have tried since partitioning the drive between ntfs and exfat and still get nothing. I think it's mainly just a cheap adapter and i'll have to try a few as I cannot find the exact model of my friends one. (Ugreen usb 3.0 to ide/sata)

Hello,

If it is for the Wii U (mode ==>vwii )mode, your external hard drive must be formatted in FAT 32 with "guiformat".

 

[Lostbhoy]

It's only for Wii U titles and injects.
Does the Wii U require fat32? I thought exfat was the same? Will try that just now actually!

 

[jeannotte]

It's only for Wii U titles and injects.
Does the Wii U require fat32? I thought exfat was the same? Will try that just now actually!

so if it is for wii u and injection titles, your hard drive must be formatted by Wii U in Wii U format. (wii u has its specific format)

And you won't be able to plug it into your PC

 

[hemi426]

I have tried both ports on the back as my current set up is in the bottom port and works fine. Have not tried the front ports as I was under the impression they wouldn't work for a hdd? (not sure where i got that info tho!)

I am not using a y cable set up either. The current adapter is only in the bottom port with it's own power source. I assumed this one would be the same as the usb cable is hard wired into the device and not removable.

Have tried since partitioning the drive between ntfs and exfat and still get nothing. I think it's mainly just a cheap adapter and i'll have to try a few as I cannot find the exact model of my friends one. (Ugreen usb 3.0 to ide/sata)

just use a sata to y-cable, i deleted all partitions on pc(used an old 1tb sata drive) ,plugged it in the back ports and format ,should work
maybe you can try formatting it on your computer to fat32

 

[Lostbhoy]

Tried formarting to fat32 and still nothing!

I can format my drive to Wii U file type with my friends adapter but not my new own one! When i plug the newly formatted drive back in with my adapter the Wii U just does nothing, acts as tho i haven't plugged it in. No offers to format or any drives showing in system settings other than system memory.

I do think its just a cheap adapter that simply will not work.

The problem i really have is moving all my titles and saves from a 250gb hdd to a 500gb hdd which i believe can only be done when both are plugged into the wii u at the same time so i will have to find a working adapter through trial and error i guess!

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[hemi426]

Tried formarting to fat32 and still nothing!

I can format my drive to Wii U file type with my friends adapter but not my new own one! When i plug the newly formatted drive back in with my adapter the Wii U just does nothing, acts as tho i haven't plugged it in. No offers to format or any drives showing in system settings other than system memory.

I do think its just a cheap adapter that simply will not work.

The problem i really have is moving all my titles and saves from a 250gb hdd to a 500gb hdd which i believe can only be done when both are plugged into the wii u at the same time so i will have to find a working adapter through trial and error i guess!

Thanks for your help guys!

why don,t u use a 250gb usb stick for extra storage ,plugging 2 external hdd in your wiiu witch do not have a power source of there own is overkill

 

[Lostbhoy]

Mainly because i have the 500gb hdd there spare and want to upgrade from my current 250gb hdd for the extra storage space and my friend needs his adapter returned!

I would still have one hdd plugged in at all times however the moving of games and saves requires both hdds to be plugged in at the same time as cloning the hdd only allows for like for like apparently. (the wii u will ignore the extra storage space of the new hdd.)

I've just actually sourced the same one as my friend for 20 bucks so hopefully that will do the trick and I'll report back once it arrives incase anyone else has a similar problem!

 

[The Real Jdbye]

why don,t u use a 250gb usb stick for extra storage ,plugging 2 external hdd in your wiiu witch do not have a power source of there own is overkill

He says its a powered drive. Also, from what I heard, the Wii U will kill USB sticks quickly as it keeps writing to them in standby mode (not sure how true this is though)

 

[jeannotte]

Mainly because i have the 500gb hdd there spare and want to upgrade from my current 250gb hdd for the extra storage space and my friend needs his adapter returned!

I would still have one hdd plugged in at all times however the moving of games and saves requires both hdds to be plugged in at the same time as cloning the hdd only allows for like for like apparently. (the wii u will ignore the extra storage space of the new hdd.)

I've just actually sourced the same one as my friend for 20 bucks so hopefully that will do the trick and I'll report back once it arrives incase anyone else has a similar problem!

If you have format your external hard drive with your wii u, I think that you could not make it work (external hard drive) with another Wii U of a friend or another user ==> TO CONFIRM

 

[Zense]

He says its a powered drive. Also, from what I heard, the Wii U will kill USB sticks quickly as it keeps writing to them in standby mode (not sure how true this is though)

I agree. My WiiU took less than 10 mins to kill the USB stick I plugged into it. Got it replaced with a microsd card. External SSDs are the way to go.

 

[Lostbhoy]

Okily dokily! My new adapter arrived and I have successfully copied all data from the 250gb drive to the 500gb drive!

If anyone else has this problem my advice is to avoid cheap adapters and get the Ugreen usb 3.0 ide/sata. Got mine for £20 on ebay. Result!