Hacking Question for users with USB-HDD without external power supply (Wii)

[vEN2]

So, i use Seagate 500GB USB3.0 HDD. It works great with Wii console, but with one exeption - sometimes my wii can crash/freeze when i load homebrew software (sometimes often, sometimes rare, i really don't know reasons for this - that's a random, maybe some memory issues). And that's not big deal, really, mostly when i load wii/gc game - works everything great. BUT when my wii crashed/freezed at loading any homebrew soft - i need to make a emergency power off (by holding a power button). And that's ABSOLUTELY BAD for my hard drive. HDD can make som noises and get a logical errors (which is possible to fix with windows utilities, but that's can take about 30 hours). Reset button not work, when wii had a freeze. Maybe you, forum members, can get a any idea, how to power off my hdd safely

P.S. so sad, that's reset button on wii works not like PS2 (by resetting everything) - if that button work's correct and resets wii at freeze - that's will be great. But...

 

[GreyWolf]

Turn off any extra features the drive may have like power saving/encryption and make sure you're using a Y-cable so the drive has enough power. If you need the second USB for for controllers you can connect the power part of the Y-cable to a USB power brick like an iPhone or Android charger.

 

[vEN2]

Using Y-cable directly to the wii will not get different results - emergency power off will get mostly same results. About using a dc 5v adapter with y cable - this thing need to test. But, again, wii works fine with one cable with HDD and it have enough power (that's not wiiu )

i am absolutelu sure, that's best and most safely way to work with wii is having any hdd with external power (like for 3.5 ide\sata boxes) and switch. Any emergency poweroff will stop any data reading from hdd, but without any logical (and maybe physical) damage for hard drive.

 

[GreyWolf]

I'm not sure what you mean. Why does that need to be tested? The power lead on the Y-cable only has power wires and decent USB power adapters only supply power on those wires. It supplies the same power another USB port would, it just frees the other port so you can use it for another peripheral if you like.

If the drive's doing something that's causing crashes after the game starts it's either going to sleep or doesn't have enough power.

Powering down a physical HDD while it's reading will absolutely not cause any physical or data loss and only the possibility of data loss if it's writing.

 

[vEN2]

Powering down a physical HDD while it's reading will absolutely not cause any physical or data loss and only the possibility of data loss if it's writing.

But that's is very strange, because powering off HDD make a very strange and not good sound. Sometimes (2 times) i got a logical errors after that (maybe that was on writing phase, not reading)

If the drive's doing something that's causing crashes after the game starts it's either going to sleep or doesn't have enough power.

No. My concole can freeze at random time moments, mostly when i loading boxcovers in cache in wiiflow, sometimes some emulator can freeze, and etc (using a homebrew soft, that's can be 1 time in month, can be 3 times in day, really). Drive isn't have a sleep mode and wii have enough power fot hdd.