Hacking a cheap western digital hard drive thats works

[roy1234]

does any1 knw if they harddrive will work b4 i buy it?
the link below for it
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Pa...571&sr=1-13

 

[person66]

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php?tit...patibility_List

If it's not there than it still might work, but it might not

 

[roy1234]

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php?tit...patibility_List

If it's not there than it still might work, but it might not

yeah i thought i found it on the list but when i clicked the link it brought me to a diff hard drive so im confused.
can some1 help me out and check the list to see if it works?
its a Western Digital My Passport Essential 250GB Ultra Portable USB Hard Drive - Black

 

[sinno]

The reviews for that particular hdd are terrible,i looked at it myself,i got the 500gb seagate expansion for around £20 more

 

[laurenz]

I actually own one of those with 320 GB. Black, but I think it's an older edition because of the different curves on the edges. But it works perfectly for me and my Wii.

 

[roy1234]

I actually own one of those with 320 GB. Black, but I think it's an older edition because of the different curves on the edges. But it works perfectly for me and my Wii.

yeah i see mate some1 told me the 500gb one works ok.
can any1 understand the compatible list on the site and let me knw if its on it?

 

[codiak]

I know that the 320 GB version of that edtion works, so this will most likely too.

 

[XFlak]

500GB and 750GB of that edition also work

note that this brand of HD has a permanent virtual cd (it takes up less than 1GB and it includes all WD software), so when u plug it into your computer (not the wii) it will act as if u inserted a hard drive and a WD CD. There are a few ways to disable the virtual cd pop-up, but even if u leave it enabled, its not that bad/annoying.

I like the drive, and recommend it all the time.

 

[Doctair]

I use the Passport Elite with the mini dock. I leave the Dock connected to the Wii and pull out the drive and connect to my MAC or PC with the extra cable. THis setup works really well for me..

I would recommend disabling the VCD like XFlak mentioned. You can download the latest firmware and software manager for both MAC and PC from WD's support site. I updated the firmware, set the sleep settings to off just incase there was any issues with spin down and then disabled the VCD partition.

Have not had a single issue with any loader so far..

 

[boof222]

i can also confirm that 250g 230g 400g and 500g work fine with no problems

 

[atrophis]

I can confirm that the following WD My Passport USB-powered portable hard drives work.

320Gb
500Gb
SE 750Gb
SE 1Tb

ETA: The 750Gb & 1Tb drives come with a virtual CDROM that use a partition on the drive to distribute WD's tools. A firmware upgrade on the drive and a separate tool, both downloaded from WD's site, can be used to turn that off and hide the virtual CDROM. I have had no problems using a single partition consuming the entire drive on these models with CFG Usb Loader.

 

[Doctair]

ETA: The 750Gb & 1Tb drives come with a virtual CDROM that use a partition on the drive to distribute WD's tools. A firmware upgrade on the drive and a separate tool, both downloaded from WD's site, can be used to turn that off and hide the virtual CDROM. I have had no problems using a single partition consuming the entire drive on these models with CFG Usb Loader.

that sounds very familiar

 

[PPSainity]

I use the Passport Elite with the mini dock. I leave the Dock connected to the Wii and pull out the drive and connect to my MAC or PC with the extra cable. THis setup works really well for me..

I would recommend disabling the VCD like XFlak mentioned. You can download the latest firmware and software manager for both MAC and PC from WD's support site. I updated the firmware, set the sleep settings to off just incase there was any issues with spin down and then disabled the VCD partition.

Have not had a single issue with any loader so far..

I would double that recommendation to disable the VCD partition or even just repartition over it and claim back the space. Reason being, although rare, some have reported the drive spontaneously locking with an unknown password when using the drives on non-traditional systems like the Wiis, PVRs, etc...

-[]D

 

[person66]

is it just me, or is the usb compatibility list gone....

again