Hardware WD Elements 500GB USB loader, USB power issue

[tadghd]

Hey all, got a new HDD, WD Elements 500GB USB powered, using it with cfg usb loader, but having some issues. It runs fine on pc but with the Wii it tends to cut out and then restart, or at least that's the best way i can describe it. I'm thinking it's not getting enough power form USB. Would getting a USB Y splitter cable and powering it from both USB ports fix this do you think?

Any help much appreciated.

 

[FIX94]

It could help, but I don't really think it. I also have a 500GB HDD USB-Powered and it works fine with only one USB cable plugged. You could try to boot the HDD with other USB-loaders, to see if it is a loader problem.

 

[tadghd]

It could help, but I don't really think it. I also have a 500GB HDD USB-Powered and it works fine with only one USB cable plugged. You could try to boot the HDD with other USB-loaders, to see if it is a loader problem.

tried that, wouldn't even work with usb loader gx. it's odd cause it mostly works, but then i'll play a game like taiko no tatsujin (japanese rhythm game), play a song fine until near the end and then controls start to cut out and kick back in when the drive spins up again to load more data. thought it might be going to sleep really quick or something like that, but seems more likely it's just not getting enough power. for another example: cfg usb loader starts up fine and displays all the games, but as you scroll through games every few seconds it'll freeze up as if it's waiting for the drive to spin up.

 

[Jojse]

I also have WD 500GB usb-powered, and I have never had any problems with it. I have all my Wii-games and Roms on it. First time I run it on my PC I took away the spindown option, and I have now one partition in FAT32 and use it with Wiiflow.... Works very good.

 

[FIX94]

OK, this really sounds like not enough power... When this happen with every USB loader, you should try it with a USB Y splitter cable.

 

[tadghd]

will try with Y cable

how do i disable the spindown? i was looking for a way to do it but couldn't find any.

 

[Jojse]

will try with Y cable

how do i disable the spindown? i was looking for a way to do it but couldn't find any.

You set spindown in the software that was on the WD when you got it, think it called smartware. If you don´t have it you can download it fron WD site. Then run the program and you will find an option to set spindown, I think it was set at 10min default. I set it to never spindown and as I said have never had any problem.....

 

[tadghd]

Apparently my drive isn't compatible with WD smartware so there's no way i know of to change the settings. Any third party program that might work?

Also tried it with a USB Y cable and it's doing exactly the same thing, no noticeable difference

woe, what to do..?

It's odd that it works fine with everything else: on my pc, and using WiiMC. Could it be my cIOS setup? I have cIOS 249 r20, and hermes v5 for 202, 222, and 223. Sys menu 4.1e.

 

[tadghd]

Well i tired a number of HDD programs, HDScan, CrystalDisk, but none are able to set the APM setting permanently, keeps resetting itself. hdparm is only able to configure drives connected by sata as far as i can tell, so it seems there's no solution

 

[tadghd]

So i took the drive apart so i could connect it internally via sata and configure using hdparm, only none of the settings i make are persistent over reset, effectively a big waste of time.

Is there any way to change settings like auto power management (the thing i now believe to be causing the issue) permanently? Or is this just a lost cause?

 

[Pat123456789]

Hello,

I have the same hard drive (I bought it six months ago, ref: WDBAAR5000ABK-00) and I've no problem with it until recently.
Since I've updated to the cIOS rev20, sometimes games can block during loading (launched by usbloader gx via IOS 249).
After reading your topic, I think it's due to the spindown too.
But apparently it's impossible to prevent the spindown :
Tom's Hardware
(the seventh post)

So, now I use de novo the IOS 222 and 223 to launch the games and usbloader gx and it seems stable.
But homebrews like WiiMC and the emulators (SNES, NES and GBA) which only use the IOS 249 can have difficulties to access to the hard drive after a moment of inactivity.
I hope that the new version of the cIOS of Waninkoko will solve this.

Sorry for being not very helpful, but perhaps the power management will be a selection criterion for buying a hard drive.

PS: I'm french, so my english writing can be perfectible.

 

[wilsoff]

Assuming it's one of the slightly older drives with the standard USB cable, then you should try a few different usb cables if you have any from other devices. It helped me and at least one other person on here.

 

[mbouy]

I have the same HDD as the OP, and had similar timeout issues with some games.

Likewise I explored the options available in HDPARM, and found I couldn't make the settings 'stick' over a power cycle.

What does seem to be working (testing only with the main offender, Excite Truck) is using USB Loader GX. No timeout issues at all!

I'd previously used Cfg USB Loader and WiiFlow, both had issues with this HDD.

Hope this helps,
Mbouy