Hardware SATA to USB 3 2.5" Hard Drive Adapter Cable Question

ThaCrip

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Does the following work on the Wii? ; https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84

But after searching on that particular thread I stumbled into the following...

AmazonWiiPic.jpg


seems to be somewhat conflicting info there(?) as the one from Sep 2015 seems to say it works but the other one from Oct 2018 claims it does not?

but with that said... is there anything specific you guys recommend to connect a 2.5" hard drive to the Wii? ; or is the one I am considering buying there above good enough?

p.s. because reading around these forums etc it seems the Wii should have no trouble getting enough power to power a 2.5" hard drive through only one USB port which is what that cable is setup to do.
 
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bananapi761

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If it's a USB 3 drive with 1 port, I doubt it'll work. USB 3 ports and devices supply and expect more power, which the Wii's can't provide. The only type of HDD that will work is a USB 2 Y splitter or one with an external power supply.
 

ThaCrip

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Here is a picture of it...

SATAtoUSB3Pic.png


the exact model of that is a... StarTech USB3S2SAT3CB

also, according to here... https://gbatemp.net/threads/does-th...er-for-a-hard-disk-drive.488081/#post-7660668 ; it appears the Wii can power a 2.5" hard drive from only from one USB port.

also, I currently have a USB 2.0 2.5" 160GB hard drive connected to my Wii and while I do have a Y cable on it, it seems to work fine with only one USB cable connected. so given this info it would seem powering the device would not be a issue unless your saying that USB 3.0 device uses more power than the USB 2.0 which would cause issues?
 
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Ryccardo

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Every disk has its own power requirements (and every sata/usb converter has its own power requirements, and its own efficiency in generating other voltages for the disk, although most laptop-sized disks only need 5 V so they don't really need voltage converters)

It is true that, according to the standard, an USB 2 device is only guaranteed to be offered UP TO 500 milliamps and an USB 3 one UP TO 900 ("up to" = after negotiating with the host, which may or may not allow such a load - in fact the only guaranteed minimum is 100 for USB 1&2, 150 for USB 3); but if we presume generic low-cost products care to implement correctly the USB standard...

The Wii, in fact, does not implement the USB standard to what I presume is the letter (you can draw more than 100 mA with an USB toaster/vacuum cleaner/other crap that doesn't even communicate with the console) and neither do the vast majority of PCs
 

ThaCrip

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Well the hard drive I have connected to the USB 2.0 device that works is 0.55a

I am just curious if people think that will work or not given those comments in the picture in my initial post which are directly aimed at the specific device in question. or is there something else that works with 2.5" hard drives (self powered) that you suggest?
 

Ryccardo

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Well, I could run a Fire Cube (bought locally - I can't find them online, very nice metal case, supports UAS for better performance [on a compatible OS!] like yours) with a 250 GB WD Blue off a Wii with a single port (though I now use SD loading only: who wants a disk making noise all day?)

Some trial and error is needed (I haven't seen anyone objectively measure the maximum USB power output of a Wii, nevermind the fact it could vary across motherboard designs, manufacturing tolerances, cable & connector length/quality...)
 

ThaCrip

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So are you saying it's somewhat of a crap-shoot in whether it's supported or not?

also, I think the chipset of that device I pictured is a 'ASMedia ASM1153E' ; does anyone know if that's good or not?

p.s. but does anyone else have any comments/suggestions?
 

ThaCrip

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Given the following picture I think I am going to take a chance on it...

AmazonStarTechPic.jpg


but whatever happens ill report back here so others can benefit from it since that appears to be a pretty popular 2.5" SATA to USB 3 adapter on Amazon given the near 5,500 comments (and has that 'Amazons Choice' thing there). so if that works, especially given it seems to be a popular item on Amazon, it should be a solid choice for those looking to benefit from a USB 3 connection on their computer for faster data transfers but yet have Nintendo Wii compatibility.

on a side note: I have a old Sabrent SBT-EKU25 2.5" enclosure (i.e. IDE HDD connection to USB 2.0) and that seems to work fine on my Wii even though I only have a couple of old 10GB hard drives (one is 700mA and the other is 500mA for power draw) which sucks due to very limited storage space. but I tested the hard drive with the higher power draw (i.e. 700mA) using only one USB port (the device does have the Y cable though) on the Wii and it seems to work based on the brief bit I tested it by loading up a Wii game (Scarface). but I plan on testing it for at least a hour or so to make sure any random glitches don't turn up (ill be testing it on the Scarface game since that's what I have been playing lately). NOTE: if I don't reply about this SBT-EKU25 device then those reading this comment can assume it works well as ill report back here if it acts up. EDIT: I noticed this Sabrent SBT-EKU25 enclosure is listed on the Wiki page... http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/USB_Devices_Compatibility_List#Enclosures ; so, counting myself, that makes for three people total saying that works but it's probably not worth much considering that enclosure is pretty old now and harder to find etc.
 
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ThaCrip

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I just received the StarTech USB3S2SAT3CB adapter today (Dec 14th 2018) and I am currently transferring my Wii games to the 2.5" Hitachi 250GB HDD which is rated at 700mA power draw and the device shows up in Windows 10 1809 (build 17763) as 'ASMT1051'.

I noticed when I first plugged it into the Windows 10 PC, after formatting the Hitachi 2.5" HDD to FAT32 through GParted in Linux Mint on a old laptop (my backup computer), that it was only getting 25MB/s on a USB 3.0 port which is USB 2 speed when trasnferring about 6.5GB of data to it.

but after unplugging it and plugging it back in... USB 3 speeds were obtained as I floated around 56MB/s (this seemed to be about the drives top speed) although it slowed a bit towards the end of the transfer down the low-to-mid 40's but it has about 154GB of data on it so the speeds I see are normal/expected for this Hitachi 250GB 2.5" HDD and it's using the USB 3 speed which saves time trasnferring games from the PC to the HDD for use on the Wii even though won't benefit the Wii itself since it's only a USB 2 connection.

NOTE: I got the StarTech device connected to a Vantec UGT-PC345 PCI-E card which is how I get USB 3 speeds as my computers motherboard itself only has USB 2.

NOTE: formatting the Hitachi 250GB 2.5" hard drive using GParted automatically gave me the 32k cluster size that people seem to recommend for Wii usage as I checked the drive using the 'chkdsk X:' (where "X" is the letter of your StarTech device) command in Windows 10 and it showed 32k cluster size.

as for the StarTech device itself... it seems well made as it does not feel cheap as the cable is thick and feels sturdy and has a tiny flashing red LED light on it while I am transferring data to it as a type this message and the cable is fairly short (about 18" or so depending on how one measures) which I consider a bonus for Wii usage. the StarTech device has a 2 year warranty. but I suggest ordering it through Newegg.com for those of us in the USA instead of Amazon as I am almost positive you will receive the item faster given my experience with Newegg over the years as it took 9 days to get it from Amazon where as with Newegg I would have likely received it AT LEAST 3 days ago (i.e. 6 days TOPS) as I tend to view, as a general rule, when ordering something from a reputable website that the item should be in your hand no later than 7 days MAX from the time you order it as with Newegg I would likely have had it Monday or Tuesday TOPS (i.e. 5-6 days) instead of today which is Friday as I ordered it from Amazon early Wednesday last week on Dec 5th and it just arrived today Dec 14th. but at the end of the day... I guess as long as this device stays reliable I can't complain much ;)

but anyways onto the important information, I tested it on the Wii and... after plugging it into the Wii (in bottom USB port like usual) and powering on the Wii it goes straight to USBLoaderGX r1268 and it recognized the Hitachi 2.5" 250GB HDD drive which has a 700mA power draw. after briefly testing it on a Wii game for 10min or so it seems okay but I plan on more thoroughly testing it soon and will edit this post to update it with any new info I find.

either way, ill edit this post to confirm if everything seems okay after playing Scarface (Wii game) for some hours as that should be more of a proper test.

EDIT: bottom line... after playing the Scarface Wii game for at least a solid hour I have no issues. so I can now confirm this device works on my Wii.

so basically those who want a cheap way to connect a 2.5" hard drive to the Wii, this adapter is probably your best option since it's only $10-12 where as if you get those other 'Enclosure' types they will generally cost more and might be a bit more risk for issues turning up with the USB cable connection to the Enclosure where as this device seems less likely to have issues like that because it's all one solid unit.

IMPORTANT NOTE: based on the official specs for this StarTech adapter it says, "Max power of the attached drive is 900 mA" ; but keep in mind I have only tested hard drives with 700mA power draw (or less) on the Wii. but I guess either way, even if the Wii itself could output enough power from it's USB port to power a device of say 1 amp(1000mA) etc, the StarTech device itself will likely have problems on 2.5" hard drives that draw more than 900mA of power. but I can't imagine this would be a problem for most people since I can't imagine there are too many 2.5" hard drives that draw more than 900mA. either way, make SURE to check the power requirements of your 2.5" hard drive before buying for use on this adapter! NOTE: if you see something on a hard drive that says 0.55a that means 550mA (or 0.8a would mean 800mA etc) as I noticed looking around online a moment ago that some 2.5" hard drives I found exceed the 900mA StarTech device power draw limit, but the majority are fine. I don't see someone having trouble finding a 2.5" hard drive that will work with this device.
 
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