External HDD USB Question

White_Widow · 11 Oct 2007 at 00:39

Hi I have just bought an External HDD to use with my laptop.

I do not have space where the laptop is and run an external sound card through an extended USB lead to a place where there is space for external components.

Would it be OK to buy a hub to the end of the USB extension and plug both the HDD and soundcard into the same lead or am I better off running a separate extension cable for the HDD?

Tomsk · 11 Oct 2007 at 12:44

Although you may have more than 1 USB port on your laptop, they probably share a common controller, so there would be no speed advantage to having seperate cables.

Using a USB hub would give you the convenience of having only one cable connected to your PC even if you were to add more USB devices like a printer.

White_Widow · 11 Oct 2007 at 13:24

I thought that would be the case. Do you think it would be better to have a powered USB hub rather than just a plug in one?

Tomsk · 11 Oct 2007 at 21:06

Get a powered one, but use it without the PSU. It should work normally without the PSU.
When you need the power, find the PSU (if you can

) and plug it in.

longshanks · 12 Oct 2007 at 07:03

Definitely get a powered one.