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amoergosum

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 20, 2008
377
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Which USB 3.0 Hub would you recommend?

I'd like to be able to connect at least two external hard drives at the same time (for Lightroom, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro work).

This one looks very nice but it says "For a stable connection, don't use this hub with high power-consumption devices, such as external hard drives" in the description.

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Hubs are commodities. If you like that one, get it. But power your hard drives with their own adapters, rather than relying on USB power.
 
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I would recommend that you DO NOT buy a hub UNLESS it also "supplies its own power". It will have a power brick for that.

A hub without its own power will rely upon the Mac's bus power, which is easily overloaded.
 
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I would recommend that you DO NOT buy a hub UNLESS it also "supplies its own power". It will have a power brick for that.

A hub without its own power will rely upon the Mac's bus power, which is easily overloaded.
Agree, and try to get one that is 3.1 rated and not just 3.0.
 
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I would recommend that you DO NOT buy a hub UNLESS it also "supplies its own power". It will have a power brick for that.

A hub without its own power will rely upon the Mac's bus power, which is easily overloaded.

If your external drives themselves are powered, isn't it true that the USB hub power is redundant?

All my drives are powered and I have found connecting the power on the USB hub makes no difference.
 
If your external drives themselves are powered, isn't it true that the USB hub power is redundant?

All my drives are powered and I have found connecting the power on the USB hub makes no difference.

Correct, if the device you are connecting to HUB is powered then you are only using the HUB for data and the HUB should be able to get enough power (5V) from the Host computer to run it's internal circuitry. But I still would not buy a HUB with too small or no power adapter. Gut a hub with 6 ports min and a 5-6A power brick. That way when you do plug in other devices that need power from the HUB the power is available. It also doesn't hurt to have 1 or 2 of the ports be fast charging (USB spec BC1.2).
 
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It's strange that most of the USB 3.1 hubs on Amazon are their own.

Does Anker or Belkin not make USB 3.1 ones?

Nothing against Amazon but I have had some Amazon Basics stuff like HDMI cables which have been wonky after a short time.
 
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