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Not a Deal... Pro USB Expander


Orion

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USB expander is something I do not recognize. There are USB hubs that will add additional connections to an existing USB socket using the serial nature of the USB spec to piggy back on the existing hub and controller that serve that socket. These are inexpensive and generally reliable. They come as unpowered hubs or with additional connections to a wall wart power supply in case you need more power than the standard USB socket provides to power the total number of connected devices at a bit higher cost. 

There are also add-in daughter cards (usually these days they plug in to a free PCIe slot) that will add new USB Root Hub and controller and typically two to four exposed new sockets to your computer.  

What do you need to do with your "expander?"

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A little clumsy on explaining my requirements, thanks for clarifying...

"There are USB hubs that will add additional connections to an existing USB socket using the serial nature of the USB spec to piggy back on the existing hub and controller that serve that socket."

My laptop only has one USB 3 port I need  a studio/gigging  powered hub to provide more plug in capability to that port.

Audio interface,  drives, controllers etc...

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Ah yes you are looking for a USB 3 hub.  Likely needing something powered if you want to be sure that drives and similar will work correctly and well.  I use a powered USB hub from Amazon Basics (because I'm basic cheap frugal? I learned how to program in BASIC when I was a kid so I'm old if not basic) on my gaming machine which works well and supports an external hard drive and wireless headphones without issue.

Edited by Peter - IK Multimedia
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57 minutes ago, Peter - IK Multimedia said:

I learned how to program in BASIC when I was a kid so I'm old if not basic

Reads this ↑

*Streisand starts playing in head*

"Memories light the corners of my mind . . ."

Suddenly I don't feel so young ? 

 

Note to self:

Dear mind,

No Streisand in the morning, plea...

*interrupted by more Streisand*

"Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we?
Could we?"


Hm ?

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Yes, that looks like a great option especially if you plan on attaching USB3 external hard drives.  This review seems to sell that for me:

Quote

I have the 7 port USB 3.0 connected to a USB 3.1 Gen 1 port. I have been able to connect two WD Passports one a 2TB and the other a 4TB. I transferred a 100GB mixed set of files from the 2TB to the 4TB While this transfer was going on at USB 3.0/Hard Drive speeds I also had a Samsung 850 Pro 1 TB in an HDE Clear USB 3.0 Gen 1 external case running a full crystaldiskmark6 benchmark test running. No hiccups at all the benchmark was as expected High 400 Read and Low 400 write. I have no idea how long this will last it appears well made for your basic 7 port USB 3.0. This is what I was looking for in a 7 port hub. So many would just lock up just having the two external hard drive hook up much less transferring 100GB of files.
The built-in cable is heavy USB 3.1 Gen 2 type wire so be aware of that if you don't need to use for large data transfers
I guess the only con would be the brightness of the blue LED's and they do bleed over to the port next to them but only on the side next to it so you can tell that the port is turned off.
I will revisit this review should anything change in the next few months.


2020-05-03 my first on is still working great and I have purchased 2 more. I have never experienced a data transfer failure with any of the three. This is the one if you need to transfer a lot of data over 2 or more external hard drives at the same time. I'm not saying other companies haven't caught up with this unit but they hadn't when I bought the first one. I haven't felt the need to try any others.

 

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