Hacking USB Y cable for portable HDD???

brausm08

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So, i seem to be having problems with portable HDD's connected to my Wii (the USB powered variety). after ~1 hour, the drive makes a loud seek noise and locks the system up when trying to access data. wondering if it's due to being underpowered by the USB bus.... if that's possible, would a USB Y cable solve the problem (the kind which plug into both USB ports)??? ...or should i just invest in a powered hub? ....or a new full-size, self powered drive? any toughts/suggestions?

Thanks....

NTSC running 4.1U
bootmii as boot2
HBC (1.0.6 i think - a version that flips with cIOSCORP)
cIOSCORP v3.2 (except for IOS30 to keep HBC from flipping)
cIOS v15 (also behaved the same for v14)
cIOS222 v4
Preloader booting directly to USBloader GX (behaved the same on all versions of GX and i update fairly frequently)
no system menu themes
HDD: WD 320GB Passport fully formatted to WBFS (USB bus powered)
 

icebrg5

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If its working for an hour and then locks up it seems to me like the drive might be going to sleep.

See if the manufacturer of your hard drive has software that can disable the sleep feature of the drive.

Also what kind of drive are you using?


Seems to me whatever usb cord came with the drive should be enough to power it.

If its a 3.5 external drive then it more then likely has its own power supply separate from the usb cable and if it's a 2.5 external drive it has just one usb cable powering it or it uses the Y cable which helps power it.

I've personally used 2.5 drives that have had just one cable and another drive that has the Y cable.Both work 100% without issues.
 

cobleman

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There is a problem with the Y cable for a few drives when you insert or take out a disk the whole Wii looses power no lights at all, and you have to unplug the power and the usb drive before you can get power back (well thats the problem i had with it)
 

brausm08

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icpmattj said:
If its working for an hour and then locks up it seems to me like the drive might be going to sleep.

See if the manufacturer of your hard drive has software that can disable the sleep feature of the drive.

Also what kind of drive are you using?

Thanks everyone for taking time for my dilemma. i am using a WD passport (USB powered 2.5"). it came with a single foot long usb cable. don't think it's a sleep issue, as the noise/lock-up can happen immediately after successfully accessing data. the noisy seeking continues until hard power-down. the noise isn't a grinding or clicking, just confused, loud seeking.
...i did look into WD sleep disable options though; without opening the enclosure and using hdparm, i don't see a way...and cuz of the effort and the evidence against it, i didn't see the endeavor worth while.

everything else about the drive seems to be fine...it functions very normally when connected to my PC; it can hang out all day without freaking out.
i doubt any of these would change anything, but a few things i've pondered:

1. reformatting the drive (320GB fully formatted as WBFS with WBFSManager3.0). my 180GB worth of data on it scream 'no, it'll take to long to load me back up'
2. updating to a legit 4.2U, then re-modding (leaving cIOSCORP off as i don't think i need it now that i don't use discs) (i'm on 4.1U now, but it behaved similar on 4.0 i think)
3. RMA-ing my drive. do you think i'd be wise to scrub it clean before sending it in????
4. buying a new self-powered full-size HDD ('tis te season for saving $). should i not stay with WD if i go this route?
 

rolandpibb

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DeadlyFoez said:
USB hibs do not work with the wii.

I have a non-powered A/B hub between my wii and my cpu so I don't have to keep plugging and unplugging whenever I add a new game...
 

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