USB hubs are they safe?

[HaruAoki]

Hello,

I was looking at getting a USD hub for my iMac to have some more USB slots and I was going to plug up some external hard drives (witch will be used to store media and other things)

I was wondering if it safe to use USB hubs / and or do they have any issue or kill the devise plug up to it?

Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great day.

 

[Gav2k]

There safe and your iMac ports will power off if they detect an issue. If your plugging drives in remember to use a powered hub!

 

[HaruAoki]

There safe and your iMac ports will power off if they detect an issue. If your plugging drives in remember to use a powered hub!

What do you mean by "powered hub" do you mean one with a power cord that plugs into a power socket?

 

[redheeler]

What do you mean by "powered hub" do you mean one with a power cord that plugs into a power socket?

Yes. It can power the ports independently without having to rely on the single port on your iMac.

If your external hard drives have their own power supplies, it doesn't really matter.

 

[HaruAoki]

Yes. It can power the ports independently without having to rely on the single port on your iMac.

If your external hard drives have their own power supplies, it doesn't really matter.

Oh okay, thanks for the reply the external hard drives I will be using will have there own power supply.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I'd go on eBay and get a cheap hub that's powered. I got this cheap, no-name, 10-port USB hub (just a plain stick--no B.S. design or odd shape) for around $7. It works like a charm!

 

[alfista]

I have had a $15 Sabrent/Arkview hub kill my MacBook air, and I verified that it did.

Purchased it from Amazon and did some nice cable management only to come back an hour later and find my MBA dead. Only the hub was introduced in this process.

I paid apple $260 for depot repair, and was informed it had a 90 day warranty, so I plugged it back in. An hour later, dead, and back to apple for the repair. I had plugged in a raspberry pi prior and it did suffer any ill effects.

Beyond the damage, good hubs do perform better.

http://www.amazon.com/Arkview-Speed...?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I have had a $15 Sabrent/Arkview hub kill my MacBook air, and I verified that it did.

Purchased it from Amazon and did some nice cable management only to come back an hour later and find my MBA dead. Only the hub was introduced in this process.

I paid apple $260 for depot repair, and was informed it had a 90 day warranty, so I plugged it back in. An hour later, dead, and back to apple for the repair. I had plugged in a raspberry pi prior and it did suffer any ill effects.

Beyond the damage, good hubs do perform better.

http://www.amazon.com/Arkview-Speed...?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

Wow, that's really scary. I wonder what caused it. Macs have short protection built in, so I wonder how the hub caused damage.

 

[Abazigal]

Use one at home and at work. Can't say I have had any issues with them.

 

[HaruAoki]

Does it matter on how many ports it haves on it, like is there a max your allowed?

 

[Sciuriware]

Does it matter on how many ports it haves on it, like is there a max your allowed?

I threw away all my powered USB hubs since I found that USB sticks AND USB drives
became corrupt after reading and writing at the same time on different devices.
Someone in an Apple store told me that it's a driver problem/limitation.
So, be very careful.
;JOOP!

 

[warrenl]

I have been using this hub with no issues on my rMacbookPro 15" and 5K iMac.
http://www.amazon.com/ORICO-10-Port-12V3A-Power-Adapter/dp/B00CBEVTIA