My second External for my Wii U has now died -edit- Actually all my data just vanished, save data too!

[burninmylight]

spurgeonryan said:

Neodegenerate said:
I have a couple of externals that have lasted me a number of years, though I haven't used them for games. Couple of questions for you:

How long do you have them on for a day? Whats the ventilation system around them look like? Are they stacked on top of the system? Is there at least a foot in 3 directions of open space around them and the system to allow for airflow? Are they in direct line of the Wii U fans?

All of these things will affect longevity.

 

It is behind my tv stand on a ledge. There is an inch of space around two sides and it is always plugged into the wall and Wii u. Other than unplugging it I am not sure if I can turn it off.

That might have been the problem (or contributed to it). I've been using an external HDD that I connect to my Wii U via a Y cable, and I always unplug it whenever I'm not playing a game that's digital so I don't wear it out prematurely. On the flip side, I always take my discs out of the drive if I'm playing a digital game. There's no sense in making moving parts move if you're not actually using them.