In the wii u s case it means you re going to need to purchase a y cable plug the single end into the external and both of the other ends into the two usb ports on the wii u.
Can you buy more storage for wii u.
The wii u will in future recognise that you have extra storage space and will install downloading games to the drive by default if you ve already filled the internal space.
If the wii u has the most recent system update installed it will be able to recognize a storage device of any size but 2tb will be the maximum amount of storage capacity that can be used.
You can plug in a full on three terabyte.
The wii u basic pack has approximately 3gb available for data storage and downloads.
The wii u premium pack has approximately 25gb available for data storage and downloads.
The nintendo wii u may only have 8 to 32gb of internal memory but the company s taking a decidedly open approach to expanding that memory.
Due to the wide range of external storage devices usability and performance will vary.
Your other option is to use a portable external hard drive which normally gets power through its usb cable rather than an ac adapter.
Our complete faq on using external storage with the wii u may also be helpful.
Portable external hard drives.
To see details of the available storage space on your console select system settings and then data management from the wii u menu.