i have multiple 3.5" external hard drives (in enclosures with external power sources, of course) that are all USB 2.0

i want them to be connected to both my desktop and my new patriot box office in a way that will allow me to use them on either without unplugging their data cables and moving them from one device to the other

because of this, and because the patriot box office only has two USB ports (and i have more than 2 externals i'd like to connect), i figured a couple of hubs would be useful...here's the thing, though...on my desktop only, i want to be able to use several of the drives at once without degradation in performance (which will obviously happen if i'm trying to run them all through a single hub and a single USB port on the computer)

so, i was thinking that i could use a splitter (or 2-port hub, if you will) for EACH drive...from that splitter, one cable will go directly to the desktop and one will go to a POWERED hub (which will in turn connect directly to the PBO)...this means that each drive will be connected to desktop with its own cable and port and the PBO will get access to all drives through the hub and a single cable

this should work, yes? the PBO never needs to access more than one drive at a time, but the desktop WILL need to access multiple drives at once and performance is key...using a splitter/hub shouldn't noticeably reduce the I/O performance if they're still connected to the desktop individually (where the splitter/hub essentially acts as an extension cable)?

2/9/2011 11:52:55 AM

Why not just connect all the drives to the PC, and use a network share for the Patriot?

If you were using a "true" USB hub for splitting a connection to multiple hosts, I imagine you would have some problems.

2/9/2011 12:00:19 PM

^ because the computer isn't on all the time, mostly...so i'd have to turn on the computer and the relevant drives...i don't disagree that it's not "hard," but it IS one more unnecessary step IF a couple of $1 splitter/hubs (unpowered, so not "true" hubs) will do the trick

good point, though...and what i may end up doing anyway

2/9/2011 12:13:21 PM

UH maybe I've missed something but I don't think it's possible to connect a USB device to two hosts simultaneously. If you can that is seriously cool

2/9/2011 6:02:43 PM

i'd be surprised if you could...reading back, i didn't make it clear that wasn't my intent

i'm looking to set up an "either" situation...either i'm using the desktop to access the drives, or using the PBO...i didn't think about what would happen if they were both connected and on at the same time

that said, i might go try that tonight with a dummy drive, one that i won't mind if it gets corrupted somehow by doing something silly like this

2/9/2011 6:42:51 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817112201&cm_re=share_usb-_-17-112-201-_-Product

Quote :

"A perfect solution for sharing a USB device between computers, the AMC PW-141A allows 4 computers to share one USB port. Just punch the corresponding button on the switch and the computer will have access to the USB device. Say you have one printer, but 4 computers. If you have the printer hooked up to the PW-141A, all you have to do is push the button to select the computer you want to print from."

2/9/2011 7:16:52 PM

^mechanical switches dont work for shit. cant tell if that's a soft-switch or mechanical though.

2/9/2011 9:13:13 PM