2TB HD with external power source.

I have a white Wii U Basic 8GB with external 1TB HDD Lacie Brand with external power source. I've downloaded about 10 retail games and a bunch of download only games and VC games.

SD card adapter article below:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/11/simple_workaround_allows_you_to_play_wii_u_games_off_an_sd_card

External Hard Drive Compatibility List @ Nintendolife below:

http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii-u/nintendolife_approved_wii_u_external_hard_drive_compatibility_list?start=60

well realistically we are all using WD or Seagate now that they have a monopoly lol

None as I decided to go full retail so the 32GBs should be enough. Virtual Console games can't take up that much space afterall.

You've downloaded that many games!? I woulda got the Deluxe model then as the 10% back in eShop credit promotion would've really added up for ya!

I bought a 2 TB Toshiba Canvio Desk, because I needed to be ready for the great wave of indie games. Darksiders II and Ninja Gaiden 3 were my first games to be installed on that thing. I'm worried because if my console breaks, my games will be lost, 'cuz you know, games are attached to your Wii U and not ot your Nintendo Network ID. I expect an update that solves this issue this year.

I'm having some problems with the HDD though. Everytime I go to the browser, the HDD naturally will turn off, because you are not using it, so when you go back to the Wii U's menu, the HDD won't turn on again, so if a start any of my programs, the console will freeze. So what I have to do is starting another of my NNID profiles, so the HDD can turn on again. Sometimes I forget to do this so it's kind of annoying :/

I've just bought a 500GB portable, decided to get a 2.5" drive so that I didn't need to mess around with a Y cable but it turns out it's more reliant on power than I thought so am getting a Y cable delivered next week.

I've got three retail downloads and several eShop titles with room to spare on my 32 gig drive. And once I need room I can just delete some of the many many demos I've got on there. Honestly you would have to get an awful lot of retail games before needing anything beyond 32.

Portable Toshiba HDD with Y- cable. Works great!

At first, I thought it was working well without the Y-cable but I was definitely wrong.