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USB 3.0 hubs - a/c, or bus powered?

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543 views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  tecknurd 
#1 · (Edited)
I am using a couple of cheap generic 4-port USB 3.0 hubs at the moment (one port failed on one of them after a few months, so that one's a three-port hub now). I am wondering if I can do better and, being no wiser after 45 minutes on Amazon, would appreciate some technical (rather than purchase) advice.

The hubs (neither is a/c powered) are used to connect external USB 3.0 HDDs to the PC: two of those HDDs, a/c powered, I connect directly to the PC's USB ports; two others (USB bus-powered), due to limited ports on the PC, have to be connected via the USB hub. These external HDDs (my PC only has SSDs) constantly supply very large amounts of data - Ortho4XP terrain data if that means anything to anyone reading this! - to my PC whilst running X-Plane 11.

I assume great read performance is key here? Would I always get better external HDD performance by buying a powered (plug in) hub, rather than one that takes its power from the PC? I notice that one of the hubs in particular will not always run the external drives - they can click noisily if I boot up with them connected to it, so I avoid that and use the other one (also bus-powered, as I say), which runs the external HDDs OK, but maybe I am missing out by using such a basic one. Or perhaps, in practice, I would see no difference in X-Plane at all if I upgraded?

(If anyone does have specific recommendations, that would also be helpful (all hubs have their share of one-star reviews on Amazon and elsewhere of course, which is off-putting).. but any hub I buy, like the one I have, must have individual switches for each port).

Thanks.
 
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#6 ·
That is just an example of what you need. I do not see why you would need a switch however if you want one, then get a hub with a switch. Each device you plug in should have it's own ON/OFF switch however if not, you could simply unplug.
You do understand that usb type drives are NOT designed for continuous duty correct? Unless the enclosure has a fan [which most do not] the drive is designed to switch ON and make a backup, then OFF. Some more modern type external drives will shut themselves OFF or go into sleep mode. I just got a WD external drive that does this.
 
#7 ·
USB storage is OK but it gets expensive and hard to manage which one has the data. Hooking many to a hub decreases performance because USB is a bus based connection. You may need to step up to a DAS. If need to access data from different computers a NAS will be a better option. Synology or Drobo are good brands.
 
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