Hardware New Western Digital HD

[Pakatus]

Anyone can give me feedback on homebrew "runnability"...specially mplayer and usb loader in the new WD MyPassport driveS?

http://www.pixmania.com/pt/pt/3457104/art/...terno-port.html

or

http://www.pixmania.com/pt/pt/3476439/art/...terno-port.html

Thanks,

 

[Szalkow]

According to the USb Device Compatibility wiki page, all of the Western Digital MyPassPort Essential series should work with USB loading, homebrew, etc.
http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php?tit...patibility_List

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

In general, Western Digital is a reputable brand. So it's definitely a good choice.

 

[Arwen20]

I am using a Western Digital My Passport 120GB drive with my usb loader and it runs flawlessly. I highy recommend this brand, they appear to be very reliable. Hope this is helpful!

 

[Mylar]

I actually just bought a WD passport 320G.

It loaded up games with CFG usb loader just fine, worked well with WBFS manager 3.0, no no complaints on it's Wii functionality at all.

I returned it after ~3 days.

These were GREAT drives for usb loading, and I guess they still are, but they changed alot about them from the previous versions, and they are now crappy in ways I could not tolerate.

They changed the USB plug to the device to this TINY micro usb, and they did not get their tolerences correct on the slot on the drive... the usb cable would fall out the back of the drive after a few hous use, just from the drive vibration.

Also, they put their own software on the drive, which is normal, but rather then putting it in files on the main partition so we can delete it, they used the firmware to make a "virtual CD" seperate from the main partition which autoruns like a CD insert and causes all kinds of fun issues.
There is no way to get rid of that partition, so you end up with a 290G drive... which is funny because the "cd partition" is only 500meg.

Yes, I know about the differenct between 1000 and 1024 and how the math works out, there is a LOT of these drives missiing for their silly crypto and org software.

Also, when I say there is no way to get rid of it I mean >no way< short of maybe pulling the drive out of the enclosure to bypass the firmware, and then I'm not sure what it would do when put back in. I tried all the usual suspects, windows, Fdisk, DiskDruid, Fparted, nothing clears this silly WD partition. Due to widespread outrage they put out a firmware patch and manager sftware that lets you >hide< the partition, so it does not Automatically autorun every time the drive turns on, but you still cannot access the space used by it.

320G WD drive was ~$80

I returned it and got a 1T seagate desk for ~100. it's externally powered which is causing me some timing issues loading my homebrew from it rather then the SD card, but I'm working on that, and I have three times the space for backups for $20 more.


Mainly, I just refuse to reward WD for the godawful mess they made of what WAS a very nice drive line.

 

[EeZeEpEe]

I actually just bought a WD passport 320G.

It loaded up games with CFG usb loader just fine, worked well with WBFS manager 3.0, no no complaints on it's Wii functionality at all.

I returned it after ~3 days.

These were GREAT drives for usb loading, and I guess they still are, but they changed alot about them from the previous versions, and they are now crappy in ways I could not tolerate.

They changed the USB plug to the device to this TINY micro usb, and they did not get their tolerences correct on the slot on the drive... the usb cable would fall out the back of the drive after a few hous use, just from the drive vibration.

Also, they put their own software on the drive, which is normal, but rather then putting it in files on the main partition so we can delete it, they used the firmware to make a "virtual CD" seperate from the main partition which autoruns like a CD insert and causes all kinds of fun issues.
There is no way to get rid of that partition, so you end up with a 290G drive... which is funny because the "cd partition" is only 500meg.

Yes, I know about the differenct between 1000 and 1024 and how the math works out, there is a LOT of these drives missiing for their silly crypto and org software.

Also, when I say there is no way to get rid of it I mean >no way< short of maybe pulling the drive out of the enclosure to bypass the firmware, and then I'm not sure what it would do when put back in. I tried all the usual suspects, windows, Fdisk, DiskDruid, Fparted, nothing clears this silly WD partition. Due to widespread outrage they put out a firmware patch and manager sftware that lets you >hide< the partition, so it does not Automatically autorun every time the drive turns on, but you still cannot access the space used by it.

320G WD drive was ~$80

I returned it and got a 1T seagate desk for ~100. it's externally powered which is causing me some timing issues loading my homebrew from it rather then the SD card, but I'm working on that, and I have three times the space for backups for $20 more.


Mainly, I just refuse to reward WD for the godawful mess they made of what WAS a very nice drive line.

You sure it was changed to micro USB?

Mini on the left. Micro on the right.

Just one question since I'm still interested in the HD. The 500 GB is going to be only $70 at Staples on Friday. I might just get the 500 GB Passport Elements at Target instead because of that Virtual CD partition though.
Does the drive automatically turn on and off with the Wii?

 

[EeZeEpEe]

Anyone?

 

[EeZeEpEe]

Double post.

 

[Ossot]

Unless it has an external power source, in which case no clue, yes, it will turn on and off with the Wii. The Wii wont supply power to USB ports unless it's ON.

 

[EeZeEpEe]

Unless it has an external power source, in which case no clue, yes, it will turn on and off with the Wii. The Wii wont supply power to USB ports unless it's ON.

I always thought the USB ports were powered while off but realized it was because my Wii goes to standby. I guess I'll be switching to power off when I get the hard drive. Thanks.

 

[Deleted User]

I just picked up a Western Digital My Passport (Essential SE) 1TB drive. (Yes, "My Passport", not "My Book", the slim one's with no power cable) and it's working fine for everything that I've thrown at it.

 

[swarmster]

Just as an FYI, WD has put out a utility to disable the weird CD partition:

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?fam...rtwareutilities

It doesn't reclaim the 700MB, though. At least not yet. "The Virtual CD manager currently only disables the VCD image. It does not remove it from the disk. We are working on an update to the Virtual CD Manager to allow the image to be removed from the disk entirely."

 

[EeZeEpEe]

Just as an FYI, WD has put out a utility to disable the weird CD partition:

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?fam...rtwareutilities

It doesn't reclaim the 700MB, though. At least not yet. "The Virtual CD manager currently only disables the VCD image. It does not remove it from the disk. We are working on an update to the Virtual CD Manager to allow the image to be removed from the disk entirely."

This was mentioned in mylar's post.

 

[swarmster]

Just as an FYI, WD has put out a utility to disable the weird CD partition:

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?fam...rtwareutilities

It doesn't reclaim the 700MB, though. At least not yet. "The Virtual CD manager currently only disables the VCD image. It does not remove it from the disk. We are working on an update to the Virtual CD Manager to allow the image to be removed from the disk entirely."

This was mentioned in mylar's post.

Sorry, it wasn't clear to me from Mylar's post whether he was talking about this patch or some way to just disable autorun. The utility hides the partition and keeps it from mounting at all, which to me is significantly better than he made it sound. You just have to subtract the 700MB from what you're buying for now. (Unless, presumably, you get the Elements one.)

 

[EeZeEpEe]

Sorry, it wasn't clear to me from Mylar's post whether he was talking about this patch or some way to just disable autorun. The utility hides the partition and keeps it from mounting at all, which to me is significantly better than he made it sound. You just have to subtract the 700MB from what you're buying for now. (Unless, presumably, you get the Elements one.)

Sounds like it actually takes up more than 700MB though. Mylar mentioned 290 GB available on a 320 GB drive. There should really be 298 GB available. I know 8 GB isn't all that much compared to the entire capacity but it's still 8 GB of lost space. I'll probably just get the Elements. It's slightly bigger in physical dimensions but at least it's smaller compared to the case for my 100 GB that I'm using now.

 

[Mylar]

When looking at the picture it may have still been mini, But if felt smaller somehow. Either way the stupid cable kept falling out, and at first I thought it was just mine, but when reading reviews for them, it seemed to be a pretty common complaint. It did not even occur to me to try a different cable to see if it was the cable that had been mismanufactured rather then the port on the drive.

Honestly if it had just been that, I would have just taped the bloody cable in, I don't care what stuff looks like, hell most of my computers never see the sides of their cases.

Yes, it went on and off with the Wii just fine. Also, it loaded fast enough that it was available to the homebrew channel by time I tried to start it, so I was able to load my stuff straight into a fat32 partition on the drive rather then keeping all my covers and stuff on the SD card. Thats something the seagate just refuses to do, I have to reload the homebrew channel a few times to get it to load apps from the drive.

Yes, it took more space then it should have, >>IIRC

 

[Kkolko]

Oh damn. Right when I had finally decided which HD to get I read this :s

So a 320GB My Passport Essential suffers from these problems?

 

[EeZeEpEe]

Oh damn. Right when I had finally decided which HD to get I read this :s

So a 320GB My Passport Essential suffers from these problems?

The Virtual CD partition is on any Western Digital external hard drive with SmartWare software. It's nearly the entire line with only a couple exceptions.