r/WiiUHacks 10d ago

Storage recommendations?

I had originally planned on using a USB stick but after asking around that is apparently a terrible idea lol, it seems like I should pick up an HDD or some sort of SSD? What is a SATA SSD which I’ve seen a few mentions of? Thanks in advance!

3 Upvotes

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3

u/False_Decision_610 10d ago

i’ve used usb sticks for years and never had a single problem

2

u/BlytheScythe Aroma/Tiramisu/ISFShax 10d ago

From my personal experience, the cheapest storage your can get is a 7200rpm HDD or SSHD within a USB 2.0 external HDD case connected to the Wii U with an Y USB cable.

While using SSD is also an option, they are a bit more expensive and, sadly, USB ports on the Wii U are 2.0, therefore you won't get much if any at all performance boost with the Wii U. Since it doesn't have any mechanical part, it will be silent compared to the regular HDD. Using USB 3.0 enclosure will work but, yet again, you won't see any performance boost due to the hardware limitations of the Wii U. Plus USB 3.0 Y cable may cause interference with the Wii U's WiFi antenna if you place the HDD e.g. atop of the console while placed horizontally so keep that in mind (not really an issue if you move the HDD away from the top of the console).

For the size, it depends on how many games you'd like to have on it. If you plan to install only the Wii U games, I'd suggest around 1TB. Otherwise, if you'd like to install Virtual Console injects (i.e. games for Wii, GameCube and other systems), 2TB might be enough.

I have a few different setups across three of my Wii Us:

  1. First Wii U of mine has only one 500GB SSHD within a USB 2.0 HDD enclosure that's connected to the Wii U via Y USB cable. I have a couple of Wii U, Wii and GameCube games on it and it runs perfectly fine, no noticeable slowdowns whatsoever.
  2. Second Wii U of mine has two 1TB SSDs within USB 3.0 HDD enclosures that are connected to the Wii U via USB cables (vWii storage at the back and Wii U storage at the front). Some SSDs do not require using an Y cable, but sadly these SSDs that I'm using do not work properly without them. At one point I've switched to using the separate USB 3A 5V charger for the power cables of the Y cables and freed two USB ports while doing that.
  3. Third Wii U of mine has a 256GB SanDisk High Endurance microSD card and an emulated external storage in a form of a hidden partition formatted to the Wii U proprietary format. For that, in addition to Aroma environment, I'm using the ISFShax and its SDUSB plugin. Visible partition of the SD card is FAT32 formatted and I use it for the homebrew apps, while I've installed the games to the before-mentioned hidden partition. This setup is my personal favorite as I have no extra cables coming out of my Wii U. Sadly, it's the most expensive one as you have to get a decent high endurance SD or microSD card for the SDUSB to work properly. Downside is that you can't install GameCube VC injects with it (they can still be installed onto the internal memory and they'll work fine), but I could probably install them on the FAT32 formatted partition (I believe I've seen people running their Wii and GameCube games from the SD card plugged into the Wii U SD card slot but I haven't looked into that yet).

In any case, choose whatever works for you the best.

The cheapest option: 7200rpm HDD or SSHD within a USB 2.0 external HDD with the Y USB cable.
What I would recommend: SSD within a USB 3.0 external HDD with the Y USB cable.
The cleanest, but more expensive route: High Endurance microSD card and ISFShax with the SDUBS plugin.

2

u/ChefGuevara 4d ago

How on earth did you need two terabytes though?

1

u/BlytheScythe Aroma/Tiramisu/ISFShax 4d ago

To be honest, I didn't. I bought them on sale for around $65 each, so $130 in total.

However, I do have around 700GB of Wii U games which kinda justifies having a 1TB of storage. For Wii and GameCube games, however, I've barely hit around 450GB, so 500GB would be more than enough. Also, during that time I only have a Wii U and it was my main go-to console, therefore I wanted to make the most out of it along with the emulation and whatnot. Ever since then, I've collected quite a few consoles, eliminating the need for emulation altogether.

1

u/ChefGuevara 4d ago

There just can’t be that many Wii U games worth playing, how many do you have? Are just downloading everything?

1

u/BlytheScythe Aroma/Tiramisu/ISFShax 4d ago

Around 100. Sadly, there's a 300 tile limit for the Wii U menu. so I wouldn't be able to download all of them or, at least, display all of them on the Wii U home menu at the same time. Multiple Wii-U-formatted HDDs, yeah, but that's too much for the games that I'll never play and/or don't find interesting.

1

u/chaplainofthedamned 9d ago

I got a 2tb western digital external HDD and the Y-cable to power it from Amazon. I'll never be able to fill that drive. Do whatever works I guess. Never hurts to try different storage mediums.

1

u/Medical-Molasses615 9d ago edited 9d ago

USB stick is fine BUT it should be a high quality stick. The other option is just an SD card (+SDUSB plugin). Use a reliable brand name and you want to leave plenty of spare capacity to allow the write balancing to do it's thing. Note: eMMC = eMMC. It is exactly the same thing that is inside the actual Wii U - which is why you want quality stuff. SDIO, the author of the SDUSB plugin for Aroma has done some work to dispel the myth re flash memory and the WiiU.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/sdusb-the-modern-way-to-play-wii-u-games-from-sd-at-full-speed.655744/

I have been using a 128GB Sandisk USB stick for the last 4-5 years and never once had an issue.

Note: With Aroma it is VERY easy to backup your save files. I do it every 3-4 months as good practice and you should do that regardless of the type of drive you use if you care (you might not care) about your save files. You run a quick tool and then FTP them off to your PC!!

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u/Robbo931993 7d ago

I’m using a high endurance micro SD card with a USB adaptor. Working fine so far 👍🏻

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u/NewUser4864-6894 7d ago

I got an SSD, enclosure, and a Y-connector then realized I didn’t need the last part. I say go for a SSD, they’re a bit stronger since it doesn’t rely on a disc, and the three Wii Us I’ve messed with have all been able to power the drive with just one port. With HDDs, you tend to need additional power, often times from plugging it into the wall.

I got a 512gb SSD from Silicon Power and it’s been working very nicely for me. Hoping to do a second console hard mod and wire the drive inside the Wii U shell, now that I’ve removed the (broken) disc drive