Wii U USB HDD Load Times

CrystalDiskMark

(Results MB/s)
Seagate SSHD
Sequential Read: 35.60
Sequential Write: 92.26
Random Read 512KB: 24.14
Random Write 512KB: 39.36
Random Read 4KB: 0.271
Random Write 4KB: 0.568
Random Read 4KB (QD=32): 0.600
Random Write 4KB (QD=32):0.554


Adata 16GB
Sequential Read: 27.34
Sequential Write: 20.03
Random Read 512KB: 27.35
Random Write 512KB: 2.529
Random Read 4KB: 5.657
Random Write 4KB: 0.009
Random Read 4KB (QD=32): 6.161
Random Write 4KB (QD=32): 0.010


Lexar 16GB
Sequential Read: 33.97
Sequential Write: 13.97
Random Read 512KB: 33.44
Random Write 512KB: 1.113
Random Read 4KB: 5.897
Random Write 4KB: 0.010
Random Read 4KB (QD=32): 6.508
Random Write 4KB (QD=32): 0.010


32GB
Sequential Read: 23.67
Sequential Write: 10.21
Random Read 512KB: 23.38
Random Write 512KB: 0.413
Random Read 4KB: 4.939
Random Write 4KB: 0.003
Random Read 4KB (QD=32): 5.386
Random Write 4KB (QD=32): 0.004


Buffalo 1TB
Sequential Read: 34.26
Sequential Write: 29.89
Random Read 512KB: 21.02
Random Write 512KB: 29.17
Random Read 4KB: 0.425
Random Write 4KB: 0.787
Random Read 4KB (QD=32): 0.514
Random Write 4KB (QD=32): 0.798


So you can read above the results of testing these drives on the computer through a similar USB 2.0 slot. I tested my laptops main drive while doing several other tasks for comparison. The Buffalo HDD and another laptop hard drive inside of a HDD external enclosure I tried to use on the Wii U but both were not able to. I suspect this is because the hard drives only used one USB slot and the Wii U pushes insufficient power for them.

From the flash drives I was able to test it seems any flash drive manages to give improved performance over the Wii U. This is likely because other files are loaded off of the Wii U such as the operating system related files,

As for which flash drive performs best, I suspect it will come down to simple read speed of the flash drive. The lowest performing flash drive also had the lowest read speed, while the other flash drives both hit close to 30MB/s which improved performance by a lot more. USB 2.0 drives top out at 45MB/s after marking out the over head and I suspect that a flash drive managing to maintain around 40MB/s will give several seconds faster load times but until I manage to find one this is as much experimenting I can do.

Well I got the Patriot Supersonic 64GB today and have been testing it for the last hour or so. I am pretty happy with the results.

Wii U:
Zelda: 28.338 (100%)
Child: 32.546 (100%)
Pikmin: 22.778 (100%)

16GB:
Zelda: 26.189 (92.4%)
Child: 30.874 (94.9%)
Pikmin: 22.410 (98.4%)

Sequential Read: 26.14
Sequential Write: 20.01
Random Read 512KB: 26.19
Random Write 512KB: 1.358
Random Read 4KB: 5.956
Random Write 4KB: 0.010
Random Read 4KB (QD=32): 6.005
Random Write 4KB (QD=32): 0.011



64GB:
Zelda: 24.177 (85.3%)
Child: 28.832 (88.6%)
Pikmin: 20.201 (88.7%)


Sequential Read: 34.98 (133.8%)
Sequential Write: 29.71 (148.5%)
Random Read 512KB: 33.97 (129.7%)
Random Write 512KB: 1.591 (117.2%)
Random Read 4KB: 5.241 (88%)
Random Write 4KB: 0.072 (720%)
Random Read 4KB (QD=32): 5.241 (87.3%)
Random Write 4KB (QD=32): 0.081 (736.4%)


As you can tell from this, I did CrystalDiskMark on the 16GB flash drive I was using, and the new Patriot 64GB flash drive which was much faster in all areas except random read times. Fortunately loading in games is sequential usually
I tested with Zelda Windwaker HD, Child of Light, and Pikmin 3 on my Wii U Deluxe. Its important to note that the video output was set to 1080p HDMI. I did my testing previously using an older CRT TV which was stuck at 640x480p, so switching to 1080p caused load times to increase by an extra second or two. I started timing right after clicking on the game and hearing the audible ding, and stopped when it said "Press Start" on screen, so a large portion of the time is the slow basic intros that can be skipped.

The total load time dropped by nearly 4.161 seconds on the best timing, and only 2 second on the worst. While this isn't as important for loading the game the first time, I'm sure loading between areas in game has also decreased considerably, though that is harder to time and check. Which results in much more enjoyable game play without waiting for things to load when you switch from one area to another.
I am also happy that it seems load time has reached its absolute fastest possible. Wii U lacks USB 3.0, and the disk drive reads at only 22.8MB/s. The difference in flash drives was around 30% faster for the new drive, but load times only decreased by an additional 6% or 7% showing that the files are now loaded as fast as possible and limited by either the USB 2.0 port itself or the internal hardware.

Just thought I should share my results

Thanks for the suggestion and complement

I have an external HDD which has a USB connection like that I can use, and I did a test with it but unfortunately the only laptop HDD I had I could use for testing was a 5 year old 160GB 5,400 RPM HDD. So when I tested it and the performance was worse than everything else even the Wii U itself I figured it was probably cause of the HDD I used and didn't want to put the results above out of worry it might lead someone the wrong way, cause I think a higher performance drive would at least be able to equal the performance of this flash drive.

My other externals use the Micro-3.0B connection and are specially sized and molded to their cases so I can't switch them out to work with the other cable. So unfortunately my testing is stuck here, but I'm sure eventually I will end up wanting to wipe my C: drive and re-install windows and I will pull my SSD when I do and give it a try.