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I have a self-powered 4-port USB hub. It's about as cheap as can be. I got it 5-6 years ago at the register of an office supplies store. I think it was $1 and it has no brand name.

I use the hub to connect two external hard drives to my laptop at all times. One of the drives is portable and the other one isn't. I recently read about somebody's USB hub crashing and frying the devices that were connected to it. Is it possible if this thing malfunctions for it to supply too much power or something? Can it damage my hard drives or laptop and if so, is there a different type of USB hub that won't do that?

I'm using Windows 8 by the way. Thanks.

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  • John, I have no reputation to comment you comment, but yes the non portable drive will be much safer, I won't believe the hub could damage your HD, is the hub self powered or it has an external power supply? if is external power supply i would better buy a better brand as hp or seagate.
    – hebertuz
    Feb 26, 2016 at 17:11
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    link to what you read. I can't provide my expertise unless I know what you read. A bad USB HUB in general, if used, could damage USB devices connected to it.
    – Ramhound
    Feb 26, 2016 at 17:53
  • Personal experience: I had a cheap USB hub connected to my laptop. After about 2 weeks of use 2 storage devices (external HDD and USB stick) connected to it failed. The HDD's read speed on USB3 dropped to about 300 KB/s and the 64GB memory stick suddenly became write-protected without any way of removing it. Both devices and the USB port on the laptop had been used for prolonged amounts of time without problems. I call this highly suspicious... Oct 30, 2016 at 11:37

5 Answers 5

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A voltage spike from the hub could damage or destroy any USB device connected directly to it. This is true for both self-powered and bus-powered devices, because the spike may occur not only in the power connection but also in the data connection itself.

That being said, this is rather unlikely. Less unlikely are brownouts due to insufficient power, which could result in data corruption or other errors.

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  • so if he gets a plug with something to handle spikes so that the fuse goes in the plug if there is a spoke then would that remove that risk?
    – barlop
    Feb 26, 2016 at 18:02
  • No, not really. These types of faults would typically happen with cheap PSUs. You’d have to put a spike protector on the DC side.
    – Daniel B
    Feb 26, 2016 at 18:05
  • Interesting. I don't even know what they look like. Can you link to one?
    – barlop
    Feb 27, 2016 at 1:33
  • The cheapest type would be to use a capacitor, it’ll smooth out irregularities. I don’t know any “ready to use” 5 V protector, if that’s what you’re asking about.
    – Daniel B
    Feb 27, 2016 at 10:18
  • Is there a way one can ensure that the ACDC adaptor has one fitted? e.g. are there particular makes of ACDC adaptor that you go for? or do you always open them up and check?
    – barlop
    Feb 28, 2016 at 0:07
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A cheap USB hub could possibly damage any usb-only powered device you would plug in.

As you said, if it does not handle well the maximum current it provides.

Another issue could be a data corruption in transfers that can damage the datas on the hard drive. But not the hard drive itself.

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  • So does that mean that my non-portable drive which has its own power supply would be safe? Do you know if the hub could damage the laptop's HD as well?
    – John
    Feb 26, 2016 at 17:06
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It's POSSIBLE, but I'd say it's pretty unlikely depending on the brand as you said is a cheap one it may occur due to USB does carry a small amount of power, and so I suppose if you had a bad hub that was sending spikes of power down the connector cable, it could cause problems.

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Yeah it will damage your hard drive. An USB hub will just split USB power and send it to the connected devices. If your USB supply more power than nedded in some moment you will fry your hard drives and anything else connected. It can even go worse ; considering your external hard drive has a damaged cable too, this cable is used to transmit data and power. If it sends some kind of invalid command (like moving the hard drive head to some weird position) it will damage your hard drive , or maybe lock it (remember when hd's starts tickling - that would happen). If you wanna use an USB hub please buy something that corectly adjusts the power split between the connected devices. If a device receives more or less power from the USB you will fry them.

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  • This does not really answer the author's question. It is more of a comment then anything. You don't seem 100% of your own answer.
    – Ramhound
    Feb 26, 2016 at 19:00
  • Welcome to Super User! This is really a comment and not an answer to the original question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post - you can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post. Please read Why do I need 50 reputation to comment? What can I do instead?
    – DavidPostill
    Feb 28, 2016 at 18:04
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I wouldn't worry too much because data storages have CRC check. If something goes wrong...copy gets interrupted with I/O error.

You can always make checksum and check after copy for files integrity.

Modern drives and I/o controllers are pretty smart these days but prevention and not saving money is always best strategy.

You don't buy Trabant for racing in F1

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