Reddit reviews WD My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Black)

I bought a used wii at a pawnshop for ~$60 (make sure to buy one that has the ports to attach GC memory card and controllers), a refurbished 1tb hd for ~$80, a 2gb SD card (it specifically cannot be sdhc, so thats why its small) for ~$6 and softmodded the wii to play gamecube and wii games that are loaded onto the hard drive. The process is simple, but there are a lot of steps, so it will take some time to read through the directions and get everything done. Here is a link to the guide that I followed:

http://www.wiihacks.com/recommended-faqs-guides-tutorials-only/96886-guide-softmod-any-wii.html

I then added dios mios using this guide (allows you to play GC backups, you need an actual memory card to save games for a lot of titles):

http://www.wiihacks.com/other-faq-guides-tutorials/103429-guide-dios-mios-v2-10-play-gamecube-backups-your-usb-hdd.html


You don't need to physically alter the wii using this method and I have never modded a wii or any other game console before this one, so anyone can do it. Just make sure to follow the steps carefully and read it thoroughly before you start.

Monoprice.com is an excellent source for cables and other peripherals if your used wii doesn't come with them, I suggest getting the component cable for best picture quality.

You don't have to use the exact things I used, I just included the links so you had a reference and somewhere to start. I like the portable hd I got because it is powered by the usb port on the wii, so I didn't have to find a place to plug it in. Be careful which hd you get, some usb 3.0 harddrives can have compatibility issues with a softmodded wii, the forum in the links above have a topic that includes a list of compatible harddrives.

Depending on how much space you think you'll need I would recommend a Western Digital My Passport external hardrive. I got this 1 TB hard drive and brought it with me to China. It's really small and durable.

As long as its usb it isn't going to matter what its formatted for.

WD Passport 1TB, $90

Its also available in metallic blue or silver.

Personally I only buy external drives from actual HDD manufacturers. If you try to go any cheaper, you're more or less going to get other OEM seconds. As far as I'm concerned the only other real option would be a seagate or a toshiba. I pretty much just stick to WD tho.

By their nature, external drives that you travel with are going to be less reliable than a "deskop" external drive but then you have to worry about traveling with a power adapter.

Amazon also sells a "mac compatible" version of this same drive for about $40 more. Its bullshit. Don't pay the stupid-tax because now you know better. Just format it with ExFat when you get it. (no big deal at all)

I bought a 1tb version of this WD USB 3.0 drive because it was only $10 more than the USB 2.0 version, because I've had a good experience with WD's passport drives in the past, and because I still have wishful thinking that Apple will upgrade the USB ports of its next Macs. There are a few files on there when you get it, but you'll be reformatting the thing for HFS+ anyhow. If you want to find one with FW, you tend to pay a bit of a premium, and most of the cheaper drives use external power.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041OSQ9S/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1/188-3839813-9657723?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=0K1QZM43YEFSWF1BE4SH&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_i=B002OB49SM

Great advice. Here's the perfect solution, great for storage size, ease of use, portability, and value:

Western Digital My Passport 1 TB Ultra PortableHard Drive

I really wanted a portable one (so that I would be able to use it wherever I needed, even in the field with a laptop) and coincidentally WD had a sale, so I snatched this one for $75 last summer, along with a Case Logic case. It's been working great so far.

You should just buy from amazon. It is not worth paying the money and getting nothing. 1TB is 130 dollars (£83),
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0041OSQ9S/ref=sr_du_1_map?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1331427564&sr=1-1

500GB for the exact same price as the one you showed me http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0041OSAZS/ref=sr_du_4_map?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1331427564&sr=1-4

It would just get warm before and now its uncomfortable to keep in my lap. How should I get a temp difference? Here is a link to the standard WD enclosure:http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0041OSQ9S/ref=pd_cp_e_0

All I meant was that I bought this external hard drive, opened it up, replaced my computer's hard drive with this new WD drive. Does that make sense?

Here.

I have a drive similar to (if not the same as) this.

Edit: I can't find the more extensive list for HDD compatibility right now. I'll search later tonight.