USB Hub - Fromrum Friday

Hey all my dear readers! How are you all doing?! :D I hope well! :) :)

I wanted to discuss USB Hub with you all. I recently ordered one, and well, the experience I had wanted to share with you all too :)

I guess we should first discuss what a USB Hub is. You guys and girls know what USB is? I hear you saying that "rectangular port in front of and back of our CPUs we use to connect Pen Drives and External Hard Disks". Well! For a layman, that would do as a correct definition but it is not the complete one. Let's check what's the technical definition. Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and communications protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices. Simple?

So now let's talk about a USB Hub. A USB hub is a device that expands a single USB port into several so that there are more ports available to connect devices to a host system.

USB hubs are often built into equipment such as computers, keyboards, monitors, or printers. When such a device has many USB ports they all usually stem from one or two internal USB hubs rather than each port having independent USB circuitry.

Physically separate USB hubs come in a wide variety of form factors: from external boxes (looking similar to a network hub) connectible with a long cable, to small designs that can be directly plugged into a USB port (see the 'compact design' picture). In the middle case, there are "short cable" hubs which typically use an integral 6 inch cable to slightly distance a small hub away from physical port congestion and of course increase the number of available ports.

Laptop computers may be equipped with many USB ports, but an external USB hub can consolidate several everyday devices (like a mouse and a printer) into a single hub to enable one-step attachment and removal of all the devices.

That was simple too, right?! :D

As for a simple everyday user, with not much technical info, a USB hub can be considered just like an extension cord for the USB Sockets. I bought it because my cabinet's front USB ports have given up. They don't read any device, not even a pen-drive. if I have to connect anything, I have to move my hand to the back of that cabinet where all those wires are creating mess, and then plug-in or plug-out my devices. Phew! Cumbersome, right? It is indeed!! :-| So to get rid of such a messy situation, I bought a USB Hub. I won't name the Hub, as I don't want to publicize it since I had a bad experience! >_<

The one I bought was a USB powered Hub. What I mean is, it doesn't need an external power source, it is able to do with what our normal USB port provides. But I realised with that I couldn't run anything but less-power-requiring, Pen Drives, Memory Card Readers, etc. When I tried to connect my External Hard Disk ( the main purpose of buying the Hub! ) it didn't work! Perhaps it needed more power. Soon I realised that the Hub had a point to attach a power source too. I was terribly disappointed that I needed a power source for just a 4-port hub! duh! Then after talking to some computer experts, I came to know either one should have had a externally powered HDD to run with my hub, or else I should give my HUB an external power source! That was quite irritating since I don't have much time to go out and buy anything and I merely found time to go buy that Hub. Now buying an adapter too, was rather an irritating news! phew!

An externally powered hub is the one that needs a power-adapter attached to it to cater to the needs of it's ports. Just like the hub I bought which needs an external power source to run any "power-hungry" device such as an external Hard Disk!!

I'm sharing this with you all because I have already suffered this problem now. So in case you guys need to buy a Hub, do make sure to ask whether or not it will run an external hard disk. In case no, buy the one that can be externally powered together with a suitable adapter(which I'm still looking for for my Hub! huh! >_< ) So in case you buy a Hub, be careful. Moreover, if you are buying anything related to computer? Hit me a comment. I would try to help you guys and girls out with anything you wish to buy :) I think I can post some buying guides for you all now..Hmm..could be interesting..I'll thunk about it. Oh! By the way, I got my new spectacles! :D Good day all! ^_^