USB 3.0 hub; what can it power?

11
2013-08
  • pouzzler

    I own an Asus UX31A laptop, equipped with 2 USB 3.0 ports. I would like to connect several USB devices to one of these ports, using a USB 3.0 hub.

    1) Am I correct in assuming the Asus "USB Charger+" commercial blurb corresponds to the USB 3.0 standard "Battery Charging Specification 1.2", and furthermore inferring that the laptop can deliver 1.5A through a USB port?

    2) Does a powered external USB 3.0 hard drive draw on the USB power lines?

    3) I would like to connect the aforementionned drive, an android phone, and a 200mA rated optical mouse to an unpowered USB 3.0 hub, itself plugged into the laptop. Should my above assumptions be false, would this setup be able to power all three devices?

    Thanks to the usb guru who'll settle my fears to rest. Best regards, Sébastien

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  • 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.