i need to buy an USB hub and i`ve been googling to find some info on how hubs work but i can`t find what i need.
When i connect the 4-1 hub to my comp, what will be the speed/bandwith available to each of the 4 devices attached to the hub?
Will it be 480mbits/s for each of the devices attached to the hub or will the max speed of USB standard be divided into 4.
I wanna attach an external HD and an external DVD burner to the hub and i`m worried about bandwith problems when burning a DVD.
Thanks
I have this Hub and have had no problems with it.
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage...2FUSB%2FHubs%2F
It says that it transfers data at up to 480Mbps . It comes with a master power socket to give extra power with high-speed devices.
You should have no problem with Belkin.
Typically, USB hubs have to split the bandwidth between the different ports. You can go into the hardware config (sometimes) and force one to have more than another, but that can be dangerous and more trouble than it is worth. Someone out there correct me if I'm wrong.
As ppoppe said, USB hubs divides the available bandwidth for each devices connected. So if you're using three devices at the same time, 480mbits/s are divided equally for each device. Here an excerpt from HowStuffWorks:
As devices are enumerated, the host is keeping track of the total bandwidth that all of the isochronous and interrupt devices are requesting. They can consume up to 90 percent of the 480mbits/s of bandwidth that is available. After 90 percent is used up, the host denies access to any other isochronous or interrupt devices.
Hope this helps a bit 
Thanks guys 
That`s what i wanted to know.
So i can external HD to 1 USB port, Hub to another and the external burner on the 3rd USB port. Then i`ll attach my mouse, ADSL modem and other temporary stuff to the hub.
Is that ok?
Thanks again
Well, your 3 USB ports, assuming they are all on one card, are gonna share their total bandwidth too, so I'm not sure it matters how you arrange all of it (I don't think each of your USB ports has 480 mbits all to itself).
Well, your 3 USB ports, assuming they are all on one card, are gonna share their total bandwidth too, so I'm not sure it matters how you arrange all of it (I don't think each of your USB ports has 480 mbits all to itself).
You sure?
It's a laptop with 4 USB ports, 40gig HD & a ****ty Combo drive so as you can imagine, it's much more cost effective to add external HD & DVD burner than buy internal ones.
And that is why i need the hub. All of my USB ports are full and i need to unplug something each time i need a free USB port. I`ve got: a USB mouse, ex. HD, ex. burner and USB ADSL modem so all of my USB ports are full. 
I was hoping a hub would fix the prob untill i switch.
Check in the Device Manager under USB controllers. The number of "Root Hubs" should be the number of dedicated full speed ports - possibly may be equal to the number of "Host Controllers'.
I have 7 USB ports on my PC. 4 from my mobo, 3 from a PCI card. Each one appears as a root hub with its own host controller.
Enhanced/Universal Host Controllers usually indicate the presence of USB2.
so you got adsl after all, eh? gratz.
plug the two high-speed devices you have (hdd and dvd) and the mouse directly, since adsl is a hundred times slower than the speed of any usb 2.0 port.
Aqua-Soft Forums