What is this?
The internal USB hub can easily expand Hi-Speed USB port availability for anyone who can spare a 3.5" drive bay and has a rare female type A USB connector on their motherboard or USB PCI.
Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Drive Bay Hub ReviewJanuary 20th, 2003
Pros: Robust construction; simple, if not easy, installation; provides powered 4 Hi-Speed USB ports; economical.
Cons: No color plate; challenging installations for the uninitiated.
Verdict: For merely $31, Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Drive Bay Hub brings USB port access to the front of your PC.
One can only wonder why there is such a dearth of USB front bays on the market. These bays mount USB ports to the front of your PC, saving you from all the hassles of reaching behind your desk to find the root ports. Although modern PCs, whether brand name or aftermarket, now come with front panel access, there are still many left without this feature. For this group, Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Drive Bay Hub - an internal USB hub - is a solid candidate for the job.
Unconventional connection For the installation of this Hi-Speed USB drive bay, an internal female type A USB connector from a USB PCI adapter is a prerequisite. Since most motherboards do not carry this port, it might seem this product is made soley for the new generation of Hi-Speed USB add-on cards. An A-to-B cable supplied connects between the card and the type B internal port present on this hub. The power is supplied by the user's choice of 4-pin floppy drive power connector or 4-pin Molex connector. If you have neither, you can opt for a Molex "Y" adapter or "pass-through" connector. Both are available at computer and electronics hobby shops. This four-port hub only works with USB 2.0 expansion cards, which have an internal USB port.
As far as we can tell, the hub itself only comes in black. While this is fine for most pre-made PCs these days, the majority of computers in use today are of the beige variety. A beige colour option would be a good idea. The device itself is made of high-impact plastic with brass inserts for the securing screws.
Into Surgery Room While this installation of this device was not difficult, it may be intimidating and aggravating for the casual users. The PC must be unplugged. Both sides of the PC case must be removed most times and many cases have metal shields blocking access behind the standard plastic cover plate on the 3.5" bay. Removing that metal shield can be difficult and you can cut yourself when doing so. Take the proper precautions - wearing gloves is a prudent move. As always, be sure to ground yourself by touching bare skin to an unpainted metal part of the case whenever touching an actual electronic component.
Once these precautions and preparations are complete, you connect the cables and slide the hub in the front of the case and secure it with the supplied screws. You can then connect the USB cable to the internal port of your Hi-Speed USB expansion card and connect the power (Molex or floppy power) source. Replace the PC case sides and you're done.
Torture the Hub To guage performance, we immediately moved a Hi-Speed USB hard drive enclosure with a 40GB hard drive and a bus-powered USB 1.1 250MB Zip drive to the new hub and started transferring 500MB chunks of data containing some files over 100MB in size to and from both drives and to and from each other. This is quite a torture test because the Zip drive gets its power and data from the hub. The test took place in Windows XP Professional, but the hub and Hi-Speed USB itself is compatible with any Windows OS from Windows 98 SE and up.
The hub performed wonderfully. I noticed no drop-offs or freezes during any file transfer. The performance was transparent and seemed identical to the performance when using the native Hi-Speed USB ports on the expansion card.
The Bottom Line This is a simple device that simply works. This Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Drive Bay Hub functions as it should and really expands Hi-Speed USB port availability. Most users will have 8 Hi-Speed USB ports available after installing this hub.
- William DeVercelly, Contributing Editor
Where to buy Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Drive Bay Hub?
User Review(s)
"Almost works" Keyboard not recognized on cold-boot through this hub. Does NOT work properly w/ linux. Belkin claims it's everyone else' fault, but it just plain doesn't work well. Also, it is sort of ugly; they could have trimmed it better (wide gaps around each terminal) and used black instead of white plastic in the usb terminals. Additionally, they could have included a break-out cable for connecting to motherboard's DIN connectors, instead you have to run the included A-B cable to an external port, or modify the cable.
The pluses are that each port has a diagnostic light and there's a power light. From skewld00d, June 02, 2003
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Drive Bay Hub Specs
Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Number of USB ports
4
Built-in Ethernet?
No
Built-in parallel converter(s)
0
Built-in serial converter(s)
0
Built-in PS/2 converter(s)
0
Built-in SCSI converter(s)
0
Stackable?
No
Type
Internal
Extra?
--
Number of FireWire 400 ports
--
Power source
Self-powered
Warranty
Lifetime warranty
Extras Turn on and off this self-powered device automatically with your PC.
Lost a USB cable? Get a replacement USB cable.
Running out of USB ports? Get an extra USB hub.
You may need a new USB card to achieve Hi-Speed USB speeds.
Confirm with our USB 2.0 FAQ if you have Hi-Speed USB on your PC.
