Hardware USB On to Go+ Harddrive - HANDHELD Experience Thread

[Chrisssj2]

So with the news of the SX OS having the abillity to load harddrives via USB docked. It seems it is also possible to load up harddrives via USB OTG in handheld mode.

Few things we need to find out now are :

- What is the limit on harddrives for using this feature Confirmed reports for 1TB. Will 4 or 5TB work however for example? You won't be able to fill it, but good to be future proof.
- Any title limit on the switch? I have 450 games waiting to be installed (heard reports of users having 600 titles installed and were fine)
- What effects will it have on power consumption using such harddrive
- Is there an USB OTG cable that somehow features the support for charging and playing at the same time
- What is the best way to use these harddrives to our switch? USB OTG cables can be finicky and break easily

I would assume a 2.5 HD would be best suited for the job. Cheapest one I could find is WD Elements Portable USB 3.0 4TB for 100 Euro.
Personally had bad experiences with seagate and there are several reports with seagate having the highest failure rates. So make your own choice.

What also is important is how big, thick and or heavy these HDD's are. We need to find the smallest, thinnest and lightest HDD's out there so we can stick em to our handheld mode switch with some elastics and not notice it.

We will need real life results here with hardware, please report your findings and suggestions here.

 

[LuigiXL]

I love this thread already! Just sayin'

 

[Chrisssj2]

I made a starters spreadsheet with some specs on some harddrives that maybe interesting:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...TLUzJmsjw0QcGUvre9h0z3v97E7g8WoLNtXrp/pubhtml

 

[Matt7402]

WD is definitely the way to go. I've had 60 or so WD drives over the last 10 yrs and only 1 has failed. I've had 12 Seagate drives and 5 of them have failed so I'll never buy one of their drives again.

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I was also thinking an SSD would probably be better as if they make it to where you can connect it to the device in portable mode you could easily attach it to the back of the device and not have to worry about damaging the drive + faster performance.

 

[Chrisssj2]

WD is definitely the way to go. I've had 60 or so WD drives over the last 10 yrs and only 1 has failed. I've had 12 Seagate drives and 5 of them have failed so I'll never buy one of their drives again.

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I was also thinking an SSD would probably be better as if they make it to where you can connect it to the device in portable mode you could easily attach it to the back of the device and not have to worry about damaging the drive + faster performance.

Agreed on WD. Ive had a few WD drives failed too but seagate failed more on me or had issues. Won't buy seagate ever again.
SSD for that size would be 10x as expensive. While you don't need 4TB SSD. a 1 TB SSD would be too few cost alot more. 2TB and up is unaffordable.
Also I think it's overkill. you don't need that speed. Micro SD is not an ssd.

 

[NANASHI89]

WD 2TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBU6Y0020BBK-WESN https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06W55K9N6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_bbPXBbSHARDQH

Will this work?

Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk

 

[Matt7402]

I don't see why not. WD 2TB Elements should be fine.

 

[Sticker]

We are going to portable so HDD not good choice on this case, SSD price is going down very fast, currently I saw Intel 660p 512GB only 100$, the problem is I didn't find a box NVMe to USB C yet, With this one we have fast SSD, already type C supported, don't have to worry about bad sector, not use to much power.

 

[kingmercian]

Or just grab an M.2 SSD and throw it in a M.2 to usb type C enclosure.

 

[mrdude]

I've just used a Crucial MX500 1TB SSD - it's very fast, silent and uses hardly any power compared to a HDD. Although it's 1TB - that's more than enough for me, as I can always store games on my NAS and put them on the SSD whenever I want a change. Also with SSD - far less chance of causing any damage/data loss + the drive has a 5 year warranty.

 

[miesssiee]

This one is looking really good. It has two cables: usb c to usb c and usb c to usb a. So You can use it in dock mode AND in handheld mode without needing another adapter

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-T5-P...39952474&sr=8-3&keywords=samsung+portable+ssd

 

[MisterMue]

what about an USB-C Flash stick?
https://www.amazon.de/SanDisk-Ultra...efinements=p_n_size_browse-bin:317680031&th=1

 

[Deleted User]

what about an USB-C Flash stick?
https://www.amazon.de/SanDisk-Ultra-Dual-Flash-Laufwerk-Type-C/dp/B06XC1WGQR/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1539952890&sr=1-2&keywords=usb-c+stick&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin:317680031&th=1

yes, that will work too

 

[Boostnek9]

I have a 3TB WD Ultra 2.5" and it doesn't work. Titles keep flashing on the SXOS games screen.

Formatted exFat and I even tried to partition it to 2TB and still same.

 

[fragged]

I have a 3TB WD Ultra 2.5" and it doesn't work. Titles keep flashing on the SXOS games screen.

Formatted exFat and I even tried to partition it to 2TB and still same.

Probably drawing too much power, have you tried using a Y USB cable to give it more juice?

 

[Deleted User]

Probably drawing too much power, have you tried using a Y USB cable to give it more juice?

Can't use a y usb cable with handheld mode. Could probably use a externally powered drive, but id be wary of doing that.

 

[a9lh-1user]

What is wrong with an M.2 with a slim case?
Wouldn't that be better?

https://www.amazon.de/CSL-Festplatt...rd-Unterstützung/dp/B01N6VG7QX?language=en_GB

 

[Chrisssj2]

We are going to portable so HDD not good choice on this case, SSD price is going down very fast, currently I saw Intel 660p 512GB only 100$, the problem is I didn't find a box NVMe to USB C yet, With this one we have fast SSD, already type C supported, don't have to worry about bad sector, not use to much power.

SSD is overkill my friend....... But if you want to drop 10x as much money on it be my guest. 512GB? youre kidding right there micro SD cards that big.
The advantage of HDD is the big storage size.
And If you want the size of an HDD on SSD. not affordable. and not worth it IMO.

 

[Song of storms]

I also think that an SSD could benefit from the upgrade more than you think.

How much do you actually need for a Switch hard drive? Maybe 500GB? Those are cheap now. If you can get an improvement of at least 10% between loading times then IMO it's worth it.

 

[kumikochan]

I'm gonna loves these posts later in the future about having burned out USB C ports making the switch useless.