Hacking I now think the USB compatibility list is flawed, please read.

[Darkzero51521]

So earlier i was looking at it, and noticed it said that a Toshiba 2.5" portable 250gb drive is compatible. This made me doubletake, because mine isn't.

Well, i decided to play around with it, and changed the enclosure that the hard drive was in. Now it works great.

In other words, shouldn't we be looking for compatible enclosures instead of compatible hard drives? The enclosure is what has certain drivers built in, and the enclosure that decides how the data is supported...If we can just find compatible enclosures, we can use whatever hard drive we want.

Don't flame me over this, it's just an observation based off of one successful attempt..but i don't have any other 2.5" hard drives to test it on atm.

 

[helloforum]

makes sense

 

[TeenTin]

agree.

 

[shtonkalot]

If you are talking about the wiki page compatibility chart then I agree it's likely to be wrong.
I have had a drive (or adapter anyway) work and then not work, some devices are reported to work with the USB Loader after being formatted on the PC with WBFS and not before.
I have concerns that people are updating that wiki depending on only there experience with USB Loader, that is not all the wiki chart is for. I also think some people added to the chart early based on USB Loader experience before that was even part of the chart!

If you feel the need to add to the chart, please make sure you read the testing instructions and follow them.
USB Loader compatibility is a recent addition to the chart, if all the testing is done on the device then people can get a better idea whether or not the problem is hardware only or others problems getting the USB loader to work.

It may still be useful to know the drive inside an enclosure too. Just because an enclosure works well doesn't necessarily mean that it will work on the Wii with any drive attached.
I do agree that it is the more important thing to look at out of the two though.

 

[AXYPB]

I have a no-name store-brand IDE/SATA enclosure with a Samsung 40GB SATA drive working with USB Loader. I don't know how to add it to the wiki page because I actually lost the casing. I'm just using the PCB and cables hanging loose.

 

[shtonkalot]

I have a no-name store-brand IDE/SATA enclosure with a Samsung 40GB SATA drive working with USB Loader. I don't know how to add it to the wiki page because I actually lost the casing. I'm just using the PCB and cables hanging loose.

Ghetto style!

Probably best if you can read what it says on the controller chip and add that to the description. Most of the time the brand of enclosure shouldn't matter as much as what controller chip it runs. For most people that is probably hard to find out, for you I bet you just need to have a look for a square or rectangular IC with some text on the board of the adapter.

 

[Darkzero51521]

Shouldn't it like, be reported to whoever manages the wiki?

I mean, people are buying those drives based on what that page says, but they could be wasting their money..

 

[helloforum]

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php/USB...List#Enclosures

 

[shtonkalot]

Shouldn't it like, be reported to whoever manages the wiki?If you know of an error then you can fix it yourself, that's the idea of a wiki

QUOTEI mean, people are buying those drives based on what that page says, but they could be wasting their money..

There are a few variables involved here that means I couldn't say for sure if a particular USB device works for all Wii consoles. I don't think that the wiki is suggesting that though.
You've got to look at it for what it is, just because someone writes on the net that they have a wii and this drive working together doesn't mean much to me. There seems to be a pattern emerging though and if you read a bit more than just the wiki you can see some particular devices being said to work by several people.
The WD My Passport range seem to be getting many good reports both on the wiki and in forums. If you could nail down a single model that many are reporting to work it would be a better bet.
If someone wants to rush out and buy an untested (by them) device in the hope it will work they will. If they then get upset that someone they've never met told them it worked, well sucked in.

If you are prepared to use your console for unauthorised uses then be prepared for things to not work.

 

[Kree_boy]

So earlier i was looking at it, and noticed it said that a Toshiba 2.5" portable 250gb drive is compatible. This made me doubletake, because mine isn't.

Well, i decided to play around with it, and changed the enclosure that the hard drive was in. Now it works great.

In other words, shouldn't we be looking for compatible enclosures instead of compatible hard drives? The enclosure is what has certain drivers built in, and the enclosure that decides how the data is supported...If we can just find compatible enclosures, we can use whatever hard drive we want.

Don't flame me over this, it's just an observation based off of one successful attempt..but i don't have any other 2.5" hard drives to test it on atm.

agreed.

I had an older 30gig WD sitting around...tried to use my usb 2.0 to IDE cable and power cable...didnt work...
so i then tried my cheap ass enclosure...worked no problem...tested it and the usb to IDE cable with 4 drives so far...and the usb cable didnt work on any of them...but the enclosure worked with every one of them...

Great point sir.

 

[mousex]

So earlier i was looking at it, and noticed it said that a Toshiba 2.5" portable 250gb drive is compatible. This made me doubletake, because mine isn't.

Well, i decided to play around with it, and changed the enclosure that the hard drive was in. Now it works great.

In other words, shouldn't we be looking for compatible enclosures instead of compatible hard drives? The enclosure is what has certain drivers built in, and the enclosure that decides how the data is supported...If we can just find compatible enclosures, we can use whatever hard drive we want.

Don't flame me over this, it's just an observation based off of one successful attempt..but i don't have any other 2.5" hard drives to test it on atm.

It is my drive and it works. It is a portable 2,5 drive and not an enclosure whit an internal toshiba drive plugged in.

 

[spiritofcat]

Probably best to list the drive and the enclosure for each entry on the compatibility list.
There are probably cases of certain drives not working and of certain enclosures not working.

 

[Darkzero51521]

So i took my laptop's 2.5" WD hard drive out today, and it works on the USB enclosure also.

Now i'm almost positive that it's the enclosure that matters, not the hard drive. Also,
-3.0gb/s SATA is far more compatible than IDE.
-Most newer enclosure/HD combos work great.

Someone should warn people about this! x_x there's so many people buying hard drives that aren't guaranteed to work.

 

[cloverfield]

I want to buy a harddisk too, but I don't know what to buy. The compatible list is nog a help.

And when I buy a larger one, I would like to use it for Geexbox or something else to! Anyone got any idea? Especially someone in the Netherlands

 

[marice]

I want to buy a harddisk too, but I don't know what to buy. The compatible list is nog a help.

And when I buy a larger one, I would like to use it for Geexbox or something else to! Anyone got any idea? Especially someone in the Netherlands

look here: www.norrod.nl
they sell the WD passports (confirmed working with the loader)
or you can always vergelijk with kelkoo

(www.kelkoo.nl, search for WD passport)

hope this helps you... i will buy one too

 

[Capn_Makeveli]

I think that the compatibility list was made before the usb loader for programs like mplayer and Geexbox. That may be why alot are not compatible with usb loader.

 

[cloverfield]

@marice:

But those passpots are usb powered... does that work?

And is the capacity an issue?

 

[marice]

@marice:

But those passpots are usb powered... does that work?

And is the capacity an issue?

yes USB powered works.

and i've heard that all WD passports should work... multiple ppl confirmed this..
(dont have one yet myself... but i will purchase one soon)

 

[Darkzero51521]

Compacity is an issue. 512GB is max size, but you can partition it and be okay.

 

[Campanile]

Hi, very interesting enclosure thread, nice catch !
Any of you got one that works one day and stop working the next day ? (could not initialize usb subsys...) ? Got that with my lacie 250Go 2.5....

EDIT : Well, never mind, formatted the hdd again and it' back ok....