Wii U External Storage Suggestions

[Gerowen]

So I mostly game on my PS4, but we also have a Wii U in the living room I just bought a couple of months ago.  It has started to get on my nerves, but I'd really like to pick up Twilight Princess HD since I have never played Twilight Princess and I'm a fan of Zelda games, plus my wife and kids really enjoy Super Mario Bros U and Mario Kart 8.  The limited storage, lack of an ethernet port (I bought a USB ethernet adapter that works), etc. are getting on my nerves.  My biggest problem however is that it only has 32 GB of internal storage, and digital purchases are often times easier and faster than keeping discs on hand.  I like physical copies, but even a demo of a game can take up several GB of space (one demo I downloaded was like 7 GB).  I read that the Wii U supports external storage, but I'm having a bit of a problem getting it going.

 

First off, you need to know that the hard drive is nothing special.  It's a 2.5 inch, 9.5mm thick, 5400 RPM, 250 GB SATA drive that came out of my old PS3.  I purchased a 2 TB drive and upgraded the PS4 to that.  I then took the 500 GB drive that came in the PS4 (PS4 is also only a couple of months old) and put it in the PS3 since it only came with a 250 GB drive.  My intent is to now use the 250 GB drive as external storage for the Wii U.  I ordered an external hard drive enclosure (this one http://smile.amazon.com/ORICO-2599US3-External-Enclosure-SSD-Black/dp/B011I5ZTIS?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00) and placed the drive in it.  I then used it inside that enclosure and reformatted it in FAT32 just to make sure the enclosure worked.  In this condition, the drive works with my laptop, my PS3, the PS4, as well as the desktop PC hooked to the living room television.  It does not however work on the Wii U.  The activity light on the enclosure blinks, but the Wii U just sits at "Checking USB Storage Device" when I try to format the drive for use with the console.  I read online that the Wii U does not provide enough power over USB to power enclosures like this, even with a 2.5 inch drive, and that many users had to use a double male Y connector in order to connect the drive to both of the rear USB ports at the same time.  This didn't make a whole lot of sense to me because it seems to me like they should still be running off the same USB bus, and therefore limited to the same current draw as one port.  On top of that, it also seems a bit unwieldy since we also have a USB ethernet adapter, controller charger and a Disney Infinity pad that connects via USB, but if that's what it took to have a decent amount of space on the thing, I figure I could bite the bullet.  I unplugged all USB devices and used a Y connector I already had on hand to connect the drive to the Wii U and still have the same issue.  The Y connector, like the drive by itself, works on all other devices in the house.  I tried using an external hard drive dock that has its own separate power supply  (this one https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IKAQ538/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to connect the drive and it STILL didn't pick it up.  The only way I managed to get the hard drive to work with the Wii U was to connect it to a spare desktop PC power supply I had laying around for power and use a SATA to USB adapter (single USB port, no Y connector, used the USB adapter from this product I also ordered from Amazon and a desktop PC power supply http://smile.amazon.com/Sminiker%C2%AE-New-Sata-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00X3NOV06?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 ) to connect it to the Wii U.  With it running off the desktop PC power supply the drive worked fine and the Wii U was able to format it, however, that means I'd have to leave a bare hard drive just laying on the cabinet beside the Wii U with a bunch of cables dangling off it, and power on a separate power supply for the hard drive every time I turn on the Wii U, and that's just not acceptable.

 

Before I go spending a fortune on adapters on other items that may or may not work, can any of you who are more familiar with Nintendo's latest console help me get this hard drive working with the Wii U so I have a reasonable amount of storage space?

Edited April 19, 2016 by Gerowen
more details about devices used

[Circaflex]

maybe this will work, http://www.amazon.com/ORICO-USB3-0-External-Enclosure-6518US3/dp/B01AN3PYMM/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1461043204&sr=1-5&keywords=2.5%22+harddrive+enclosure+with+power or this http://www.amazon.com/ORICO-External-Docking-Station-Support/dp/B012V5MSGK/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1461043304&sr=1-3&keywords=sata+harddrive+dock. Your best bet though is just looking at their webpage and seeing what they list as compatible and purchase one of those. 

[Gerowen]

I got it working with the stand-up SATA docking station (has its own power supply) I linked in the first post; the one that sits on the table and cradles the hard drive.  Weird thing, it works in the front USB ports, but not in the back ones.  However, the Wii ethernet adapter works fine in the back USB ports.  Weird.

[Gerowen]

Anyway, it's working fine now.  I have to power the drive on separately, which isn't a huge deal, but at least there's something sort of cradling the hard drive instead of it just laying around at an odd angle.  I've already tested it out by formatting it, moving Minecraft onto it and booting Minecraft from the hard drive.  All is well so far, :-)