Wii U Storage Questions...

[chazdraves]

Well, we made the decision to pick up a Basic Wii U the other day (Deluxes, of course, were long gone). Overall, it seems a nifty device and we've been enjoying it. The inevitable question, however, is storage. On PC, I always prefer to buy games via Steam and love having them available "Through the Cloud!" whenever I decide after years that I want to play something again. As such, I have been intending to make my purchases through the Wii U eShop. Here are the questions I have before doing just that:

I see here: http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=179055 that they seem to be suggesting you can re-download a title you've previously purchased, but can anyone confirm this? For example, if I run out of storage and wipe Darksiders II, I want to know that later I can wipe another title and re-install Darksiders II...?

Also, it seems that an external HDD is really the only way to go here given the $/GB. I thought I read somewhere that the Wii U couldn't use HDD's that require an AC adapter and something about USB 2.0 vs. 3.0? Can anyone clarify? I'm looking for recommendations on a ~1TB external drive that will work for certain...?

Lastly, disk speed... I'm thinking that having games installed onto a 5400RPM external drive might actually affect gameplay if it's anything like PC...? I know the SSD in my laptop can make all the difference with load screens and such - how does a 5400RPM drive compare to the read/write speeds of a Wii U disc? Is it worth the extra cost to go 7200RPM or even SSD?

Very much obliged for the help, folks! Thanks!

- Chaz

 

[Soundmanred]

Read the actual Nintendo web site, it answers your questions.

 

[Soundmanred]

If I delete a game to make more room will I be able to download it again if I want to?

• On the system where you made the initial purchase, you can re-download a deleted game at any time by going to your Profile in the Nintendo eShop Menu and selecting My Downloads.

Is the Wii U compatible with Solid State Drives?

• To ensure maximum performance between your Wii U and an external storage device, we recommend using a hard-disc drive (HDD) with a dedicated power source (i.e., using an A/C adapter).

And-
The console features four USB 2.0 connectors – two in the front and two in the rear

 

[chazdraves]

Awesome! Forgive my ineptness.

What happens if your system goes on the fritz and you have to get a new one... Can you de-register the first console and link your account to a new console and re-download?

Also, any thoughts on the speed of an external drive and how that may affect performance?

Thanks very much!
- Chaz

 

[chazdraves]

I'm going to answer my own question in hopes that it might help someone else in the future.

Firstly, this has a lot of extensive info on the Wii U which may be relevant: http://gengame.net/2012/07/everything-we-know-about-wii-u/#5

Here they claim that read speeds on the Wii U optical drive is roughly 22.5MB/s (which turns out to be faster than the PS3/360, for what that's worth). It seems many external hard drives are capable of speeds even up to 100MB/s via USB 3.0 but the Wii U supports only USB 2.0. I have no idea what the theoretical capability of USB 2.0 is, however, it seems most average external drives hit 24-30MB/s via USB 2.0 (even if the drive itself is capable of 100MB/s via 3.0). So, to answer the question, there would be zero advantage to seeking out an SSD or even a 7200RPM HDD for the Wii U as the USB 2.0 interface couldn't support the greater speeds.

As to de-registering one console and bringing your content to a new console, I still don't have that answer for certain, but I can't find anything to verify it would be possible (for now). The only answer I found was that (hopefully) Nintendo would be able to look at your purchase history and restore those to your new console in the event of a hardware failure or theft.

Thanks, all. Hopefully someone else can benefit from this information.
- Chaz

 

[hans030390]

Best thing to get is an AC-powered external HDD drive. If the device relies on USB power, get a Y-adapter to draw power from both ports on the Wii U. You can use flash drives as well, apparently, but Nintendo thinks they're a bad idea from a longevity standpoint. I'm going to guess that the speed of the drive doesn't matter too much, given that it's going over USB. You could probably use an SSD as well, but you wouldn't see many speed benefits.

 

[tipoo]

I've never run into the issue of flash storage wearing out, why would the Wii U be different here? I wonder how a fast SD card would do, since actual hard drives would be limited by the USB 2 speed anyways if the SD card could reach 30MB/s it would have that plus the low seek times of NAND.

 

[chazdraves]

Yeah, but the only way to use the SD card for actual storage on the Wii U is through a USB adapter thus negating the gains... Unfortunately, they don't allow saving/downloading to the SD card without using it through an adapter.

Even still, I'm perfectly happy with the read times off the disc and a HDD should prove *slightly* faster. All's well!

- Chaz

 

[tipoo]

They limit what you can do with SD cards but not USB flash drives? Weird. So how about a fairly fast flash drive then? If it can transfer at a speed that USB 2 hard drives are capped at anyways, plus it has the low latency of NAND, would that perform better than an external drive?

 

[chazdraves]

Again, even the HDD's are capable of higher speeds than USB 2.0 can support. It's one of those deals where it really doesn't matter what you plug in; it's going to be capped at about 30MB/s no matter what the device *should* be capable of. The upside is that you don't have to spend the extra dough on SSD to get the maximum performance the Wii U is capable of and the ~ 30MB/s is still faster than the optical disc drive's read speed of approximately ~24MB/s.

As for limiting the SD slot, I don't know what the deal is, but as far as I can tell, the only thing you can do with it is transfer data from your previous Wii to your new Wii U. When I insert a new, blank SD card into the slot the device doesn't even acknowledge it under "Storage". It will (as I understand) only recognize USB storage (be that flash drive, SD card with a USB adapter, HDD/SSD, etc.) and will always cap out at about 30 MB/s.

Such is life, no? Still seems to be a fun device, I can live with the limitation.

- Chaz

 

[ViRGE]

I've never run into the issue of flash storage wearing out, why would the Wii U be different here?

Consumer flash drives can be of questionable quality. TLC with a bad controller is not uncommon. It won't go out right away, but if you're playing with your WiiU a lot it could add up quickly. Nintendo's internal storage is fairly high quality MLC NAND, which will last quite a bit longer.