Can I plug 2 external hard drives on this hub? (the only cable needed for them to function is the USB 3.0 cable, no AC needed on those hard drives)
2020841
The hub itself can use an ac adapter (not included) however it is not required from my experience. But, if your external drives use an external power such as a ac adapter then yes you would still need the power for those drives but not for the usb 3.0 hub itself. You would only need to power the hub itself for power hungry applications. I currently have a WD Ultra Passport external drive (which requires no external power) and two external disc drives attached to mine (one lightscribe dvd writer, and one asus bluray writer drive) each of which is powered seperatly by ac cord. My 4 port Sabrent USB 3.0 Hub has no power to it other than the computers bus power. I hope this helps. Cheers! The hub itself can use an ac adapter (not included) however it is not required from my experience. But, if your external drives use an external power such as a ac adapter then yes you would still need the power for those drives but not for the usb 3.0 hub itself. You would only need to power the hub itself for power hungry applications. I currently have a WD Ultra Passport external drive (which requires no external power) and two external disc drives attached to mine (one lightscribe dvd writer, and one asus bluray writer drive) each of which is powered seperatly by ac cord. My 4 port... » Read More The hub itself can use an ac adapter (not included) however it is not required from my experience. But, if your external drives use an external power such as a ac adapter then yes you would still need the power for those drives but not for the usb 3.0 hub itself. You would only need to power the hub itself for power hungry applications. I currently have a WD Ultra Passport external drive (which requires no external power) and two external disc drives attached to mine (one lightscribe dvd writer, and one asus bluray writer drive) each of which is powered seperatly by ac cord. My 4 port Sabrent USB 3.0 Hub has no power to it other than the computers bus power. I hope this helps. Cheers! « Show Less
2020842
One drive-likely no problem. You could try attaching 2 drives and might be fine, I am not sure. Again, to be safe, buy a "powered"hub.
2020843
You may only be able to use one bus powered drive at a time because of the power limitation of USB 900mA, or 4.5 watts is the maximum for the hosting port.
2020844
Not sure, depends on your source USB port. To be sure, I would purchase a "powered" USB hub to connect your drives.
2020845
I would guess you could - especially since you can power off each one separately. But I haven't tried it myself.
2020846
Would think so because I run single hard drive from my hub the reason I bought it
889949
Yes, it has one USB 2.O port. If I need use more than one USB external drive, I plug in my Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Ultra-Mini Hub.
556684
For me I found external hard disks worked, but I would get short term disconnects. I replaced my hub with a Anker hub and haven't looked back:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GSLMTQ8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc;=1
1713981
yes, but but external drives suck up too much power for most hubs, like this one. Mouse, keyboard work fine, so try to connect external drives directly to computer.
1077170
I don't see why not. I have 2 external drives running on mine. One powered by the Hub and the other by it's own power source. All 3 of yours have their own power source.
672883
You need the 2 ports to power the HDD. Depends on your hard drive model only one port may not be enough.
776844
I would bet what Richard is asking is "IF" I have 10 USB hard drives" - I posted a question myself and the question box is limited in how many characters it will allow in a question. The answer is that IF you have all ports used by devices that ALL have their very own AC adapters then yes, you would NOT need the Plugable's AC adapter to be installed to send and receive data from your computer to those drives. I have had 2 USB drives plugged in that have their own adapters and everything worked fine - I don't have access to 10 drives to completely test your request for you, but this answer based on what I could test will likely be correct for your purpose. Hope that helps! I would bet what Richard is asking is "IF" I have 10 USB hard drives" - I posted a question myself and the question box is limited in how many characters it will allow in a question. The answer is that IF you have all ports used by devices that ALL have their very own AC adapters then yes, you would NOT need the Plugable's AC adapter to be installed to send and receive data from your computer to those drives. I have had 2 USB drives plugged in that have their own adapters and everything worked fine - I don't have access to 10 drives to completely test your request for you,... » Read More I would bet what Richard is asking is "IF" I have 10 USB hard drives" - I posted a question myself and the question box is limited in how many characters it will allow in a question. The answer is that IF you have all ports used by devices that ALL have their very own AC adapters then yes, you would NOT need the Plugable's AC adapter to be installed to send and receive data from your computer to those drives. I have had 2 USB drives plugged in that have their own adapters and everything worked fine - I don't have access to 10 drives to completely test your request for you, but this answer based on what I could test will likely be correct for your purpose. Hope that helps! « Show Less
259038
i do not recommend buying a USB powered Hub for external drives. Buy the one with external power. The USB powered one will turn off your HD sometimes and it is annoying esp if you are downloading files.
95052
Yes. The manual clearly states that external power is required at all times. USB 3.0 ports are supposed to provide up to 900 mA, each, so requiring an external power source for hubs is pretty much written in stone. Also, it is worth noting that older computer systems probably do not have USB 3.0 ports built into them. My own laptop is a 2011 ThinkPad, and I had to buy an adapter card to get the support.
2005291
I have two that are self powered with no problems. In my opinion it should support 4 external hard drives because it plugs into a power source.
1555909
I tried to plug in an external 320GB hard drive and it didn't work at all. The enclosure had its own power supply and I have plugged it into other USB Hubs before, but this one didn't even recognize it. don't know if it was defective or a limitation of the design, but I am returning it considering that I bought this Hub to swap multiple external hard drives and thumb drives. Hope this helps.
196769
You can hook up 2 hard drives on the IDE cable if there is room or 2 connector blocks open. Would recommend getting a SATA card and then you could install 2 hard drives on that (much faster drive)
2005294
MANUFACTURER ANSWER: Thank you for posting your question. External drives tend to be extremely power hungry because they have motors along with their electronic circuitry. They usually draw the maximum current that is allowed from a USB 2.0 port (500mA) or even more. Because of this, I would not recommend running four USB-powered external drives from this hub. It is designed for a typical mix of USB devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, flash drive, etc., including an external drive or two. The AC adapter for the hub supplies a maximum of 2.5 amps, so if the four external drives you mentioned each drew 500mA, then that alone would put the AC adapter near its capacity. Because external drives often draw more than the specified limit, especially when starting up, I would be concerned that a drive might disconnect suddenly due to lack of power during a write operation, possibly corrupting data on the disk. To be safe, I would recommend a maximum of three external drives if they were by themselves, or two if other devices are attached to the hub. For using more drives, I recommend our 7-port USB 2.0 hub with a 3.0 amp power supply (http://plugable.com/products/USB2-HUB-AG7) or one of our USB 3.0 hubs (which work on USB 2.0 ports), with 4.0 amp adapters. I hope this answers your question. David, Plugable Support
873761
Yes you can do that (that is what I do) but I suggest you buy the DS213j, the newer version of this. It has more RAM, a newer CPU, and floating-point and it is cheaper! You can attach two external drives or a powered hub with, I believe up to seven devices total.
2126525
The documentation that was supplied with the drive stated that the 2nd USB was required to provide enough power for the drive to function. There is no AC wall plug on this unit just a VERY SHORT double USB plug. And both have to be used regardless of USB ports 2.0 or 3.0.
448180
I use the hub with multiple WD external drives which have USB 3 connectors. If the Ultra 2TB drive has a USB 3 connection, then it will work. I checked the Amazon listings for details and the WD _My_ Passport drives (regardless of size) all have USB 3 interfaces. That means they will work with this hub.Note, to take fullest advantage of the USB 3 speed, you will need to plug the hub into an USB 3 port on your computer. Otherwise, the speed will be that of the port.
1372409
Agree with other buyers. The second port is needed for adequate power to run HDDs . However through my experience, it didn't work at all, though computer detects the drive. I tried two with the same result - this contraption is not working!