USB Hub

Having only 2 USB ports on my new macbook Air, I have invested in a USB hub ......well 3 in fact.

Trouble is, none are doing the job I need them to do, which is work properly. The first one I bought, has 4 ports, and works with some stuff, but not with others....I have no idea why.

The second I bought, also has 4 ports and seems to work with everything I plug into it but not my external DVD drive (wont work when attached to a hub), or my portable samsung HDD (wont work when attached to a hub either).

and third, I bought a 10 port powered hub, thinking this will be able to take everything....but it doesnt. this one has cause me the most grief to be honest. At present, I have it plugged in but not powered. Whenever its powered, things seem to work intermittently. Now its not powered I have 3 HDD`s a printer, and usb-ethernet cable....all work fine untill I plug something else in, like my memory stick....they all disconnect and then connect again. This was a pain as I had my keyboard and mouse plugged in to it aswell so I couldnt do anything untill it reconnected again

So....what I need is at least a 7 port hub that is reliable. Can anyone recommend a brand that will be of use to me.

Also, what is the difference between the powered hubs and the unpowered hubs. Will a powered hub not drain my battery as much ??? is that the reason behind it.

maclfc said:

Also, what is the difference between the powered hubs and the unpowered hubs. Will a powered hub not drain my battery as much ??? is that the reason behind it.

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An unpowered hub draws power from the host. So, if it has 10 ports, it will split the very limited power available 10-ways. It also has to split the available bandwidth on the bus 10 ways.

Those two reasons are most likely why you're having trouble with it, both while it's powered and unpowered.

Best bet (in my opinion), would be to buy a powered 4-port hub from a reputable brand like Belkin.

If you need to have more than 4 USB devices plugged in simultaneously, a desktop machine would likely have been a better choice. You may also want to look into getting a "docking station" like solution for your MacBook Air.

A desktop would have been better regarding the USB ports, but not for the portability I need. I had a desktop and borrowed a laptop for the portability, but that option has now gone.

Can i ask a question on this thread about how to network my old desktop pc with my MBA so that i can plug the external HDDs into the desktop and still access them on the mac ??

maclfc said:

Can i ask a question on this thread about how to network my old desktop pc with my MBA so that i can plug the external HDDs into the desktop and still access them on the mac ??

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I'm not sure that's the route I would take.

Can you tell us a bit more about the peripherals - specifically, how many drives and what you use them for?

Ok...here goes

All USB external HDDs

1 X Western Digital 1 Tb ....I keep films and music only on this

1 X Seagate 500Gb...... Which has documents, pictures, PDF`s, limited amount of small video files

1 X Western Digital 500 Gb ...i was going to use this as the Hdd to backup the mac to

A HP all in one Printer connected by USB

An apple adapter for ethernet to usb connection.

An Apple usb key board with mouse plugged into it.

1 X desktop PC running win 7 ultimate with numerous USB ports

1 X Macbook Air with 2 USB ports

I also forgot

Samsung portable HDD 500 Gb ...various files on this for when i work away

2 X pen drives

1 X External DVD Drive USB

1 X netgear Wireless Router with 4 wired ports (only 2 used 1 for xbox, 1 for macbook)

I would like to get a USB DVBT dongle to watch freeview tv on the mac aswell.

I have another question aswell.

If the Western digital HDD has been formatted to the mac OS , can windows still read it ???

I know that the mac can read the disk if its formatted to fat 32

Once the drive is formatted for the Mac you would need some third-party software to read it. MacDrive

That's a very comprehensive and demanding USB requirement you have there.

Some thoughts:
1. You definitely need a powered hub.
2. You may want to consider pushing some of the demand onto wifi (printer, MBA network connection)
3. You need to find a near industrial strength HUB. The dropouts you're getting now are attributable to the hub surpassing it's power capacity
4. Maybe consider something like this or another 10w capable hub

Another option would be to consolidate HDs a bit.

The bottom line here though is that you're trying to use the MBA like it is a Mac Pro (or at least an iMac). It just wasn't designed for that (as you've discovered). It's a sports car, not a Mack truck.

If budget were not a consideration, I'd say what you really ought to do is get an iMac with a large internal HD (and plenty of room for external HDs) and leave the MBA for JUST your portable computing needs.

I would also question whether every single one of those peripherals need to be connected at all times.

Thanks for the replies.

I have taken on board what you guys/gals have advised, and have disconnected some of the peripherals.

I now have connected
1 external hard drive (for saving files and backup)
apple keyboard and mouse
HP Printer
USB to ethernet for internet and network.

These 4 work fine on an unpowered 4 port hub. This leaves 1 free USB port on the MBA to connect any other device (usb stick, DVD drive etc ) when needed .

BTW....the devices mentioned above only need to be connected when I`m at home. When i`m mobile there wont be anything connected other than maybe a memory stick or my portable hard drive

The only thing I need to plug into my Air is a hard drive and tv tuner with the occasional SD card reader. Bluetooth takes care of keyboard and mouse and wi-fi takes care of printer. Other hard drives are either plugged into my iMac or directly into my router and can be accessed by wi-fi.