What I am trying to find out is if it is possible to play large  eshop games (12+ gig) from a  high speed SD card using a USB SD card reader.

Something like this:

My research has found just two Youtube videos of someone doing this example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaBQFRsWxeo

Everything else is just pirating software with flash drives.

I am trying to avoid the expense of an external HDD and if this is feasible it will save me a lot of money.  If anyone set up their Wii U to run full size eshop games from this type of external memory set up please let me know the good and the bad of this configuration.

Sites like Destructiod have said it would work, but most of this information is from the 2012 Youtube video I linked.  I am interested in any impressions from those who have used this set up for several months or a year.

Any advice is is appreciated and thank you for reading.

The Wii U comes with an sd card reader already. Does this usb card reader work better some how?

The SD card reader included only works for the Wii hardware built into the Wii U.  It will not allow you to run Wii U eshop games from it.

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

It appears you are correct and the usb card readers will work.

:/

How much a savings are you really getting? Seems like its a minimal difference for a solution that is 50/50 chance of working.

At face value, I'd think it would work. But idk if WiiU's architecture would realize a difference in this USB device vs a USB HDD.

Thank you for your research.  I called Nintendo and they said it would not work.

I'm just looking for impressions and best possible configurations for this set up.

It works, but Nintendo doesn't recommend it due to the limited SD card durability. That's strange because 3DS eShop games are saved on SD cards...

I did some loading times tests and the SD card was as fast as a SSD (due to USB 2.0 limitation).

Most of the HDDs with good reputations are well over 100 dollars.  I had hoped this would be a good solution for the limited memory my basic Wii U has.  Thank you for responding as I said any advice is appreciated.

Nintendo also says usb flash drives won't work but I used one for quite a while with no problems. I bought a 2Tb hdd for 69.99 brand new. Toshiba. It works just fine with the wii u also.  I think getting an HDD will be cheaper for you.

 I agree.  I've used the same 4gig memory stick on my PSP for 6 years without any problem.

Thank you for taking the time to this for me.  I'm glad to see someone got this to work.