The cable of my USB port hub is too short - what to do?

11
2013-08
  • Anna

    I just bought a new USB port hub "MSY USB 2.0 4-port hub". It has two inputs:

    1. A small USB entrance
    2. input for external power (?)

    The problem is that the cable that comes with the hub (small USB on one end, large USB on the other - to input into my computer), is too short for my needs.

    Is there a solution to this? Buying a longer cable might be risky; I know that it might cause problems with power.

    Is there anything else I can do to make it work?

    Thanks.

    • Answers
  • David Spillett

    You should be fine with a USB extension cable as long as you remain within the limits of the specification, which if I remember rightly states devices should be no more then 5m (cable length) apart. So if your existing cable is 1m long, you could add a 2m extension and still be well within spec.


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    external hard drive - 2.0 speeds on USB hub?
  • Matthew Robertson

    How capable are USB hubs?

    I have an AirPort Extreme router with a printer attached (it's not powered by USB). I want to extend this and add two hard drives (one for Time Machine and the other for EyeTV recordings).

    Can a 4-port USB hub (I'm considering this one) achieve USB 2.0 speeds and power the hard drives? What difference would a self-powered vs externally-powered hub produce?


    • Related Answers
  • Radruler

    Ive run 3 external hds off a Belkin wall-powered hub and gotten the same speed as a direct connection, however my hard drives were all wall-powered as well. As a rule of thumb, it's definitely better to get powered USB hubs for any hard disk usage or heavy data access (bigger thumb drives, etc), while self/computer powered hubs are usually for mouse/keyboard and generally device inputs. There is no downside as far as I am aware of using a wall-powered hub, so if you have the extra cash, its always a good investment to go with external power. I personally use an old model of Belkin's hubs, and its served me well for almost 3 years now.

    tl;dr: Drawing usb power is bad for lots of data transfer, grab an externally/wall powered hub and you should be fine. Try and get the hard drives themselves powered too -- the less stress on the hub, the better.

  • Stefan Thyberg

    A self-powered USB Hub typically reinforces and repeats the signal so that you may have longer cables. It's definitely to be prefered when running heavy USB appliances such as harddrives.