USB/Firewire Question.

[Tool Man]

My motherboard has 2 USB 2.0 ports on the back, and 2 USB headers on the board which I have connected to a front card reader with 2 USB 2.0 ports on it.
Anyway, I use the back ports for my Microsoft optical mouse and my Epson printer, both of which are USB 1.1, and I use the front ports for Memory sticks and gamepads and such.
Question is, I just bought a USB 2.0 external HDD. So, both of my rear ports are used, and I thought I might buy a USB 2.0 hub. But will that slow the HDD down by sharing a hub with 1.1 devices?

Or should I buy a PCI USB 2.0 card?

Another option is the external HDD has a Firewire port beside the USB port. Should I maybe use that instead? Would it be any faster?

Any advice welcome,
Thanks.

[budz]

It sounds confusing to me because I've never ran across a mobo that had USB 2.0 & 1.1. Perhaps it would be better to get a PCI USB 2.0 CARD. What brand is your motherboard?

[Tool Man]

Sorry, what I mean is the board has USB 2.0 ports, but I'm using 1.1 devices in them. It's a Soyo Dragon KT400.
I know that USB 2.0 ports are backwards compatible with 1.1 devices, but if I mix devices on the same hub, will it slow the 2.0 device to 1.1?

Like putting a CD-ROM on the same cable as an IDE HDD would do.

[budz]

Sorry, what I mean is the board has USB 2.0 ports, but I'm using 1.1 devices in them. It's a Soyo Dragon KT400.
I know that USB 2.0 ports are backwards compatible with 1.1 devices, but if I mix devices on the same hub, will it slow the 2.0 device to 1.1?

Like putting a CD-ROM on the same cable as an IDE HDD would do.

I use a 1.1 device with my USB 2.0 ports which have no problems. You should be fine.

[Dr. DOS]

Hub should be fine .... but some more dedicated resources (PCI card) may run a tab faster since it is not sharing any bandwidth. If price is similar get one that has a Fwire port too... I think others on this board have found throughput a tad faster with Fwire vs USB2 (If I'm remembering my previous threads correctly.)

So... if you can find a card with one fwire and two usb ports get it. You'll have the best of both worlds. Plus you will have a open fwire port on your external hard drive (ext DVD writers, Digital Camera connection, etc)

[Tool Man]

Is this what you mean?

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=16650

I think I'll go for this one and use the firewire instead, plus I'll have 4 free USB2.0 ports for future use.

Thanks.

[redwudz]

Tool Man: I would go for the combo PCI USB 2.0/Firewire card. It's been my experience that if you combine USB 1 and 2 on the same USB channel that the USB 2 may have problems. Most new boards have more than one USB channel, so you just have to pay attention to which one has which USB 1 or 2 plugged into it.

Having a 1394 input is a good addition, should give you more options in the future, even if you don't have any Firewire devices presently. Besides, you can never have too many USB inputs.

[Tool Man]

Cheers Redwudz, thats what I was afraid of.
If I don't count the front ports connected to the MB headers, then I have only 2 USB ports, and I'm using 1.1 devices in them.(Mouse/Printer).

Am I right in assuming that they won't affect any new ports I install?(PCI).

The external HD I bought has both USB2 and Firewire ports, so I think I will go for the combo PCI card, that way I will have some free USB's for future use.

Thanks.

[Capmaster]

A new card or the devices attached to it won't affect the Mobo USB ports.

You always want a dedicated port for a hard disk, or a video capture device for that matter Those are higher bandwidth, Things like printers, mice and media readers won't matter if they're mixed.