Hacking Ouch.... need help with choices

[Geeman]

So a few days ago I got my new Western Digital Elements 500gb drive to use for backups. I load up a game and start to have problems with loading (made a thread here which helped). Downgrading to reliable cios versions cured most problems but some areas of the game would take like an extra 2 seconds to load, which completely ruined the experience. At first I was blaming the cios but I was dead wrong. So today I had a 16gb Sandisk Cruzer nearby and thought "might as well try it". It was completely perfect in loading every scene and faster than my original disc by a noticeable margin. Just really awesome.

Obviously this is because the Sandisk has no moving parts I presume? I just wonder if I can get just as good from a hard drive. My best guess for this would be to purchase a externally powered drive that was 7200rpm (WD is 5400) and maybe that should do it? Obviously need to get one with low access time.

Any ideas? I would just keep using flash drives but just not enough space.

 

[specht]

I wouldn't go out of your way to get a 7200 rpm HDD. (though if you use it for other purposes as well it doesn't hurt)

Naturally, a flash drive would probably be faster, but a 5400rpm drive wouldn't cause that much of a difference. The Seagate drives I use are pretty much comparable to a flash drive.

Is your WD Elements drive powered via USB? I've never tried using a HDD powered by USB on the Wii but that may be the cause.

 

[Geeman]

Is your WD Elements drive powered via USB? I've never tried using a HDD powered by USB on the Wii but that may be the cause.

Yeah it is. At first I dismissed this as a possible cause but then I realized that the flash drive would take far less power to operate than the WD. I am thinking of purchasing a high end 7200 drive and sticking it into an enclosure. That should fix the issues hopefully.