Hacking External Hard Drive buying guide - needed here!

[k4ever]

By the way, I know about gbatemp wiki compatibility list of ehd and certain usb loaders.
I thought I made my mind clear when I decided to buy a western digital 120-250-320GB my passport essential in order to back up most of my games. Most people use WD my passport essential as hdds, and it seems it has great compatibility with the wii. The thing is that I was trying to get info from other sites as well, and then I read something about getting the wii USB PORTS FRIED if one uses an hdd without a power supply ( like the wd passport that only requires USB ). It never crossed my mind that this may be possible ( the energy output/input of an hdd on a wii cant be handled by the wii's usb port because they weren't made to use that way .. dunno ).
I thought most of the compatibility issues where caused by using hdds that needed a power supply, and the usb ones were more easily recognized by the wii system, but I'm not sure thats longer the case.
What type of external hard drives do you use or recommend?
Also, WD have 2 kinds of passport drives. One is the essential and one is the elite. The essential has been widely tested with positive results, while the elite one remains unknown ( in the gbatemp comaptibility list ). Will there be no difference between the 2 of them. I will just be using it to store wii isos and maybe wads.

 

[wiistarter]

By the way, I know about gbatemp wiki compatibility list of ehd and certain usb loaders.
I thought I made my mind clear when I decided to buy a western digital 120-250-320GB my passport essential in order to back up most of my games. Most people use WD my passport essential as hdds, and it seems it has great compatibility with the wii. The thing is that I was trying to get info from other sites as well, and then I read something about getting the wii USB PORTS FRIED if one uses an hdd without a power supply ( like the wd passport that only requires USB ). It never crossed my mind that this may be possible ( the energy output/input of an hdd on a wii cant be handled by the wii's usb port because they weren't made to use that way .. dunno ).
I thought most of the compatibility issues where caused by using hdds that needed a power supply, and the usb ones were more easily recognized by the wii system, but I'm not sure thats longer the case.
What type of external hard drives do you use or recommend?
Also, WD have 2 kinds of passport drives. One is the essential and one is the elite. The essential has been widely tested with positive results, while the elite one remains unknown ( in the gbatemp comaptibility list ). Will there be no difference between the 2 of them. I will just be using it to store wii isos and maybe wads.

From reading (and answering this question before) the problem lies when the USB drives start to request more than the maximum amount of power needed. A PC motherboard will have an inbuilt cut out that will stop supplying more than it can handle although it will supply slightly more than the max. The problem here is that nobody actually knows for sure if the wii has the same capability. The wii might just keep supplying power that is needed and this could result in the USB port failing. This also is not confined to HDD but also to remote USB chargers as well. If one of them is faulty then it could also need more power than recommended and fry the port.

If you search for the USB powered hard drive problems on google you will get a more in depth explanation as well as a few drives that are repeat offenders for behaving like this.

Although there will be the usual ones that have been using the USB powered HDD for ages and nothing has happened and thats good for them but this is just what I came across when I was getting a HDD. I now use a SATA Hdd in an AKASA external caddy with its own power supply.

 

[longtom1]

that's what I've got a SATA Pc Hdd with a cheap usb kit with power supply no need for expensive case

 

[jakejm79]

I had a drive that used an external power supply, I recently switched to a WD My Passport Essential 320GB that runs on just USB power (since I am too lazy to get up and turn the drive on and off) and I haven't noticed any difference in performance or compatibility, tho I have only been using it for a few weeks.

 

[FenrirWolf]

Never heard of HDDs frying the USB ports. I've been using an hdd without a standalone power supply since the loader came out. So far there's been no problem but I'll be sure to say something if it decides to die on me.

 

[Deleted-171178]

Ive used the Essential but it only works if you have WBFS as a partition, and doesnt support multiple partitions.

 

[jakejm79]

Ive used the Essential but it only works if you have WBFS as a partition, and doesnt support multiple partitions.

My Essential works fine with with a FAT partition and a WBFS partition.

 

[Deleted-171178]

Mine didn't detect the WBFS.

 

[EeZeEpEe]

Ive used the Essential but it only works if you have WBFS as a partition, and doesnt support multiple partitions.

My Essential works fine with with a FAT partition and a WBFS partition.

Which partition do you have first? FAT or WBFS?

QUOTE(beegee7730 @ Nov 1 2009, 04:18 PM)

Mine didn't detect the WBFS.

The read me for USB Loader GX says you need the WBFS to be the second partition. Which did you have it as?

 

[Deleted-171178]

I had one 150gb partition and one 100gb partition, and I tried both but neither worked.
I guess ill try again soon.

 

[k4ever]

Mmmmmh ... I have to do more research about this (using certain types of hdds on the wii). It may seem that the problem doesn't exist, but maybe in the long run, some trouble may appear with the usb ports. Maybe after 2-3 years? I'm not sure. Right now it seems the safest option should be an hdd with an external power supply. Maybe a WD like My Book series?

 

[jakejm79]

4GB Fat32 primary partition made 1st, then the other 316GB has the WBFS partition also primary was made 2nd, I then set the FAT32 to active. I have had the same setup on this and my old AC powered one (that is for sale FYI) and I haven't had a problem with either.

 

[illinialex24]

16 GB Flash drive partitioned WBFS has been working amazing for months.