Do you use a external hard drive with your Wii U

No, but I'm consider it. I've been using a Sandisk Cruzer Fit(64GB) for a while, but it's nearing the limit. If the Wii U supported having more than one storage device connected via USB, I'd just get another one of those. But, it can't because reasons. *sigh*

Yup, I just got this one a few weeks ago:

WD 1TB WD Elements Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drive Storage (WDBUZG0010BBK-NESN)

I think the normal price was $80 or something and i was lucky enough to see it on sale for $54.99. I bought a Y-cable too. So far it's working fine but again, I've only had it for a few weeks. I had to move Prime Trilogy over to it so I could get my DKTF club nintendo gift. Hopefully soon it will be packed with Xenoblade Chronicles X content!

Haven't need to... until now cause I only have around 6 gigs left on the 32gb HDD. Pikmin 3 and Tropical Freeze took up most of my space. I normally get physical copies, but those games were free so I had no choice.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is going to have some special download feature to speed up load times for those of us who buy physical, but that file size is going to be just short of 10gb so I'll have to get an external HDD I guess.

yeah have a 2 tb seagate (I hope it holds out till I can get my ass in gear and buy a more suitible one).

It is always plugged in, no damage, and no failure yet (It is however a seagate).

I just bought that same one on Amazon. Was $60 but I think it's still a really good deal. Tell me more about the Y cable, from what I've read, it's necessary in order for the Wii U to be able to read it?

The thing that I like about it the most is it doesn't have a plug in and it's small.

I'm wondering if I can use it for both my Wii U and laptop? Like backing up files from my laptop and using it for space on Wii U? Or will it only be assigned to one while requiring formatting every time I need to use it on one or the other?

@Bigboi500: The Y-cable basically has 2 USB ends so you plug both of them into 2 WiiU USB ports. One will send data to and from the HDD and WiiU, the other will power the USB drive with the WiiU so no plug into the wall is necessary.

You cannot use it both for the laptop and WiiU right out of the box from what I understand. Once you connect it to the WiiU, in order to use it you have to format it. However, I think there is a way to compartment the HDD but I'm not much of a techie so someone else will have to speak to that.

Thanks. Yeah I just read about that. Oh well, I'll use that for my PC and just bought the usb drive that @YearoftheSnake5: mentioned.

I dont yet, but i plan on it in the future some time. I dont need much space, i bought a 32g SD card for her, but havnt used it yet.

Since I own a launch 8 GB Wii U, I use an external hard drive. Never had any problems with it.

yup! I got one. I found a old school one that meets all the criteria and is externally powered. No issues whatsoever. If they ever allow games to be installed to the external I'd be ready. Its what I'm hoping for.

Nintendo needs to make a Wii U with at least 150GB of storage.

Most won't even use 100 GB of space unless they go completely digital and got every Ubisoft game. Watchdogs is 17GB, Splinter Cell Blacklist is 15 GB, RE: Revelations is 13 GB, Darksiders 2 is 10 GB, DKCTF is 10 GB, and when it hits... Xenoblade Chronicles X will be 23 GB.

All of these games can take next to no HDD space if you buy the physical discs.

not yet but im down to 2GB left. i suspect i will be getting one in the next year or so.

will a flash stick work? i would preferr to use one of those than an external HDD. another 64GB should see me though the gen...i dont need 100s of GB.

2TB on mine. I buy only digital, and I have a pretty large library of them. No complaints.

I've been fine with the original 32GB because my only digital games are WW and DK:TF. There are also some VC stuff but those are much smaller.

The PS4 and X1 have 500GB of storage.

Nintendo should have put an empty 2.5in drive bay in the Wii U for us to put our own drives inside. Having external storage is fine and all, but it's extra baggage that needs to sit around the system. I'd rather have it hidden inside.

I use a 128 gigabyte thumb drive on mine, still have around 75 gigs left and I have roughly 33 digital titles on it.

Nope. I'm suffering with the 8gb model :p

I tried a couple flash drives but it gave me problems, and an HDD would be a waste. I'm just not getting many downloadable games. I'll probably pick up the 32gb model when prices hit rock bottom.

Yup a 500GB on a powered external case..just for games saves...& 1 digital game (free) Wonderful 101 overkill really.. :P

i got a 500GB...

i think ive only used like 50Gb on it lol...

anyway....ive had my data corrupted twice from that automatic software update stuff....i turned that off and havnt had any issues since.

I got the 32gb model and I buy physical. I don't need an external HD, 32gb is more than enough (hence why I'm a supporter of small harddrive built in + external options for consoles). I think if they design it better to easily switch/add HD would be a good idea though.

Those systems force you to install all games to the HDD, even physical retail games. Both of the HDDs are almost filled on those systems for me.