External Harddrives that Don't Require a Y-Cable

[zebragreen]

I've tried a Western Digital Elements 2TB, brand new, formatted with GuiFormat Fat32 with 32kb clusters, plugged it in with a Y-Cable into both Wii ports, and it ran extremely slow and was underpowered.

I currently use a Toshiba Canvio Ready 1TB with a Y-Cable in both Wii ports, which does work perfectly fine.

However, I'm trying to use a Tony Hawk Skateboard dongle in the second Wii port.

Which are the External Harddrives that work (reliably and without corruption over time like a USB stick) with just the power from a single HDD cable?

 

[Jmdaemon]

if I am not mistaken, the y cable is because the amount of power from the usb port is so low? you can probably plug one cable into a power brick

 

[morning_glory]

Most Seagate drives cope very well without the Y cable.
If you need a model number ???

Other drives would work better if the interfaces weren't so power hungry. That's where I chose to remove the drives & run them directly through an el-cheapo USB adapter.

 

[lwiz]

Easy, just get external drive with power brick. (Or enclosure with brick and separate HDD.)

 

[zebragreen]

Easy, just get external drive with power brick. (Or enclosure with brick and separate HDD.)

I can't use a second socket: https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-y-cable-usb-hub-usb-peripherals.636729/

Since I think? my current drive is unusable, I'm looking for a very specific example of an external hard drive that someone has currently used in their Wii over a long time with only one USB port, with no corruption. (Ie. A couple MB files coming up in Found.000).

I don't want a general brand as people said Western Digital as a brand worked, but a brand new 2TB Elements couldn't get enough juice even with a Y-Cable in both Wii ports.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I've tried a Western Digital Elements 2TB, brand new, formatted with GuiFormat Fat32 with 32kb clusters, plugged it in with a Y-Cable into both Wii ports, and it ran extremely slow and was underpowered.

I currently use a Toshiba Canvio Ready 1TB with a Y-Cable in both Wii ports, which does work perfectly fine.

However, I'm trying to use a Tony Hawk Skateboard dongle in the second Wii port.

Which are the External Harddrives that work (reliably and without corruption over time like a USB stick) with just the power from a single HDD cable?

How about a SSD? They should use less power. 480GB/500GB external SSDs are very cheap these days. I just ordered one from A-Data for my aunt and her family, as the external HDD currently plugged into the Wii there seems to be failing (games are crashing frequently, and it doesn't seem to matter which game you play)
Actually ended up costing about the same as what the cheapest 1 TB 2.5" external HDD would've cost, so seems like a much better purchase for the Wii since it won't break in 5 years like a HDD might.
There was less than 200 GB in use on their external HDD, with tons of games (around 150), so 480/500 should be plenty for all the Wii and GameCube games you could possibly want to play.

 

[k0walski]

I've tried a Western Digital Elements 2TB, brand new, formatted with GuiFormat Fat32 with 32kb clusters, plugged it in with a Y-Cable into both Wii ports, and it ran extremely slow and was underpowered.

I currently use a Toshiba Canvio Ready 1TB with a Y-Cable in both Wii ports, which does work perfectly fine.

However, I'm trying to use a Tony Hawk Skateboard dongle in the second Wii port.

Which are the External Harddrives that work (reliably and without corruption over time like a USB stick) with just the power from a single HDD cable?

Powering external HDD is an actuall pain in the.... because USB2.0 can deliver not more than 0.5A of current (typically, otherwise the device which drains more than that will be cut-off from from power by the protection circuit). That's the reason why they've added Y-cable. However it might not work with large capacity drives - the more physical discs (if it's not SSD/NVMe) inside the drive's body, the more power drive needs to spin them and the more physical "heads" will be needed to access the data. With Y-cable one can drain around 1A of current. So the drive connected this way should not exceed this level otherwise either it will be cut-off by the protection circuit or the USB port might be burnt to hell.

Then comes SSD/NVMe. While they don't have spinning parts, they might still require more power to deliver more speed over USB. USB3.x/Type-C/Thunderbolt will help, however, Wii, I believe, has only USB2.0 ports.
So I guess, if one wishes to attach external HDD, consider buying an enclosure with a separate power supply (not USB).

So here I see only two options (if not considering already working one with Y-cable):
- External HDD enclosure with separate power supply.
- USB card reader with SD card.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

My Western Digital My Passport Ultra 1TB works well without a Y-cable. It's a kind of older model, since I'm not sure if the current ones would perform the same.

 

[k0walski]

My Western Digital My Passport Ultra 1TB works well without a Y-cable. It's a kind of older model, since I'm not sure if the current ones would perform the same.

For USB2.0 it will work, of course, in compatibility mode, since, as far as I understood from the datasheet, it's USB3.x compliant. So the data transfer rate will be just slow. Something makes me think that finding a perfect match is a lottery (and I'm talking about the external HDD, of course ).

 

[chipsnblip]

wii: RVL-001
enclosure: Sabrent EC-UASP 2.5" SATA Hard Drive USB 3.0 Enclosure
drive: WD Blue 1TB Mobile Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 9.5 MM 2.5 Inch - WD10JPVX

been using this setup for years without a single issue.

 

[CoolMe]

Depending on the hdd enclosure you're using and the hdd power demands, the enclosure will start blinking (if it has read LED) nonstop if it's not getting enough power, it's different from how it's normally reading data off the hdd. If it doesn't have the led then it's just guess work, game loaders like usbloadergx will tell you if the hdd isn't being read correctly when you first launch it, failing the usb initiation screen (not sure if Wiiflow does it too or not). Otherwise you can't know for sure until a game hangs or black screens etc. in-game or when you first launch it.

 

[k0walski]

wii: RVL-001
enclosure: Sabrent EC-UASP 2.5" SATA Hard Drive USB 3.0 Enclosure
drive: WD Blue 1TB Mobile Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 9.5 MM 2.5 Inch - WD10JPVX

been using this setup for years without a single issue.

Lucky you! Actually, based on the drive's datasheet, its peak current is 1A. Although it doesn't mean that the drive consumes that much all the time. The inclosure itself might be having a buck-boost circuit so it's definitely enough to work either over slow USB2.0, or through fast and powerful USB3.x (considering, of course, mobile HDD type for USB2.0).

 

[Ryab]

I've tried a Western Digital Elements 2TB, brand new, formatted with GuiFormat Fat32 with 32kb clusters, plugged it in with a Y-Cable into both Wii ports, and it ran extremely slow and was underpowered.

I currently use a Toshiba Canvio Ready 1TB with a Y-Cable in both Wii ports, which does work perfectly fine.

However, I'm trying to use a Tony Hawk Skateboard dongle in the second Wii port.

Which are the External Harddrives that work (reliably and without corruption over time like a USB stick) with just the power from a single HDD cable?

Either way you will need a Y cable. The Wii's USB points barely put off any power to the drive. 2 sources of power are required. If you wanted you could plug one into the Wii and the other into a power brick.

 

[Hanafuda]

My Western Digital My Passport Ultra 1TB works well without a Y-cable. It's a kind of older model, since I'm not sure if the current ones would perform the same.

I'm using the same on my Wii and yeah, having no problems at all. I do use a Y cable on the Wii U though, with a 2TB WD Elements. Always wondered if it really needed it.

 

[k0walski]

I'm using the same on my Wii and yeah, having no problems at all. I do use a Y cable on the Wii U though, with a 2TB WD Elements. Always wondered if it really needed it.

Well, lucky you Consequences of underpowering the HDD can be:
- "Broken" files (during write I/O).
- Lost file system (will require data recovery or recovery of file allocation table) <- worst case.
- Likely may complain about "unsafe" disk detachment (in this case might be enough to do the disk check for errors).
- Physical disk damage <- another worst case.

The last one may need some explanation. When the disk spins at its speed (5400, 7200, 10k, 15k), the head "flies" above the disk surface. Spinning disk creates some sort of an air flow which doesn't allow a disk head to touch the surface which will cause immediate damage to it (of course the head itself is weighed, it's just another part of the process). Now imagine the disk looses the power and the disk drive stops spinning while the head "flies" above disk's surface. In normal case, when you safely remove/detach the disk, the head goes to the parking zone first (one will hear a typical "click" sound) and then the drive stops spinning. In wrong case, the disk stops spinning first (while the head is still above disk's surface)... in most cases the head might safely travel to the parking zone even if the power is occasionally lost... But luck, you know...

Now to the case without Y-cable. Power cuts might be for a portion of a second which is enough to "click" the head to the parking zone and back. My opinion - if there is Y-cable - use it (to save some nerve/money)...

 

[morning_glory]

Anyone tried to double-up 2x different Y cables ?

Match the males to females (data+power & power only), so the 2nd wii USB port is split into two (data + power to the dongle - power to one of the HDD other Y cable).
The power consumption of the dongle is low, & should be also able to cater for the HDD.
The 2nd Wii USB port will only draw extra power to the HDD. The data lines will be on the 2nd Y cable. Keep in mind that one side of the Y cable is dedicated to data & power. The other is power only. Match Y cables to suit.

I really hope I elaborated that correctly
It's makes more sense if a diagram is drawn.

 

[zebragreen]

Anyone tried to double-up 2x different Y cables ?

Match the males to females (data+power & power only), so the 2nd wii USB port is split into two (data + power to the dongle - power to one of the HDD other Y cable).
The power consumption of the dongle is low, & should be also able to cater for the HDD.
The 2nd Wii USB port will only draw extra power to the HDD. The data lines will be on the 2nd Y cable. Keep in mind that one side of the Y cable is dedicated to data & power. The other is power only. Match Y cables to suit.

I really hope I elaborated that correctly
It's makes more sense if a diagram is drawn.

Nope, doing this:

Permanently broke my harddrive.

 

[Jmdaemon]

Powering external HDD is an actuall pain in the.... because USB2.0 can deliver not more than 0.5A of current (typically, otherwise the device which drains more than that will be cut-off from from power by the protection circuit). That's the reason why they've added Y-cable. However it might not work with large capacity drives - the more physical discs (if it's not SSD/NVMe) inside the drive's body, the more power drive needs to spin them and the more physical "heads" will be needed to access the data. With Y-cable one can drain around 1A of current. So the drive connected this way should not exceed this level otherwise either it will be cut-off by the protection circuit or the USB port might be burnt to hell.

Then comes SSD/NVMe. While they don't have spinning parts, they might still require more power to deliver more speed over USB. USB3.x/Type-C/Thunderbolt will help, however, Wii, I believe, has only USB2.0 ports.
So I guess, if one wishes to attach external HDD, consider buying an enclosure with a separate power supply (not USB).

So here I see only two options (if not considering already working one with Y-cable):
- External HDD enclosure with separate power supply.
- USB card reader with SD card.

I would not cement that power rating. Usb 2.0 devices have long taken advantage of and even demanded (firestick, raspberry pi, other small computing devices) higher than .5 amps even though it was never part of the spec.

 

[zebragreen]

My Western Digital My Passport Ultra 1TB works well without a Y-cable. It's a kind of older model, since I'm not sure if the current ones would perform the same.

Are you currently running it in your Wii? Any chance you can plug it in a PC and right click it and do a Scan for Drive Errors?

If it doesn't say "Windows has finished scanning the drive, no errors were found", it's likely corrupting some small files over time and putting a few MB into the Found.000 folder on the root of the drive, which is what the Wii does to USB sticks.

For USB2.0 it will work, of course, in compatibility mode, since, as far as I understood from the datasheet, it's USB3.x compliant. So the data transfer rate will be just slow. Something makes me think that finding a perfect match is a lottery (and I'm talking about the external HDD, of course ).

@k0walski, are you saying this drive is good?

 

[Jmdaemon]

Nope, doing this:
Permanently broke my harddrive.

Powered hub? hmmm..... something nefarious happened but just so you understand... in a y cable only one of the leafs has a data connection. the other one is purely for pulling power from another port. So that data connection from the wii to the hub would not be needed.. if the connection didn't work you would just need to swap the two sides of the Y adapter. USB is an end to end negotiated connection and 3 devices talking on one cable is not a supported function. (HDMI is the same, any HDMI splitter requires a chip to receive the hdmi signal and then output the signal to two female cables).

As for why your drive may have died... the 5 volts should remain 5 volts because it is hooked in series and not parallel, so either the drive was bad to begin with or the usb hub was bad and was outputting outside a safe voltage range?