Mac's and USB hub disconnects

1

I need a USB hub for my iMac which will not “drop” connection to external drives on waking from sleep mode.

My AC powered D-Link DUB-H7, which is Mac compatible, will disconnect with external drives, typically after waking from a sleep mode. For the first 10 months, I had no “disconnect” problems with the D-Link and now D-Link says the device is not defective (since you can simply reinsert the drive to reconnect) and refuses to acknowledge a problem. This is a problem for timed backups. The hardware involved is below:

iMac, Intel core i5, snow leopard, OS 10.6.8
D-Link 7 port Hub
Seagate, Free Agent GoFlex 1.5TB external drive used with Time Machine
SanDisk Cruzer fit 16GB flash drive

Is this an issue with Plugable products? If not, what Plugable models are recommended?

PS: Apple says “yeah this happens a lot with 3rd party Hubs”. Nice!

2

Hi Gene,

Thanks for contacting Plugable and for considering one of our hubs. Before recommending that you buy another hub, I want to make sure you’ve seen these support articles. It may be that you can get your D-Link hub working based on the following info.

Here is Apple’s official support statement: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3169.

Here’s a repackaging of the Apple statement from a CNet writer, but in some cases the discussion forums on such articles can offer additional insights: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-….

Given the limitations that Apple defines it its support doc, I cannot say whether Plugable’s hub will behave any differently than the D-Link hub in your environment.

We have sold thousands of hubs but have not been hit with support cases about problems with attached devices not being recognized when a computer comes out of sleep mode.

We have had a few reports of unexpected drive disconnects when they were connected through the hub to a Mac, but the issues in those cases seemed to come either from a random fault with an individual hub (in such cases, we have replaced the defective units with new ones) or from an aggregate power consumption of the devices connected to the hub that was beyond the size of the hub’s power supply. With only two drives to connect, it does not seem like you would exceed the 2.5 amps available through the hub’s external power supply.

With all that as preamble, if you decide to purchase a Plugable hub, we would love to know whether it works as you hoped it would or has the same problem as your current D-Link unit. This information would give us data to offer a more definitive answer than I can provide here to a future customer with the same question. Or we may be able to find a solution for you. Amazon.com makes returns easy via http://amazon.com/returns if the product doesn’t suit you. And we’re always here to help with support should you have additional questions about a Plugable hub or any of our products (http://plugable.com/products)).

If I had to recommend a product, I would say that our 10-port hub offers the greatest flexibility (http://plugable.com/products/USB2-HUB…). Please note that its 2.5-amp power supply means that if you have five devices that each consume the USB 2.0-max of 500 milliamps of power, you only will be able to use five of the 10 ports.

Let us know if you have any additional questions, whether you were able to get your D-Link working, or your results with a Plugable hub.

Best Regards,

Aaron
Plugable Technologies

3

Well I hate to even say this but, everything is working the way it should (aka, the way I want it to) since installation May 25. Hopefully, announcing this won’t be a kiss of death.

I purchased the Plugable 10-port hub (http://plugable.com/products/USB2-HUB) described above for $26.95 from Amazon. I do not have an iPhone or iPad so I don’t know whether they will charge or not. An iPad will probably be purchased toward the end of 2012.

I have plugged in my Seagate 1.5TB hooked to Time Machine, a 16GB Kingston flash which acts as a backup on closing the financial program iBank, my iMac keyboard, and have been able to charge at the same time my HTC smartphone, Kindle, and a golf GPS. Wow oh wow! Now it is a test of durability and longevity. Oh, I forgot, I also need to add 3 ft USB extensions on both the Plugable and the keyboard. Still works, no disconnects. Amazing!

Thanks so much for the quick response and answering all my questions. It definitely was the factor in trying Plugable products.

4

Thanks for letting us know. We’re happy to hear all is working. If you do buy an iPad in the future, you might want to read this article about what to expect with regard to charging: http://plugable.com/2012/03/13/chargi….

If you have an future questions abour or problems with Plugable products, don’t hesitate to write again. We’re here to help.

Best Regards,

Aaron

5

I tried charging MacBook Pro from an external source and there were some technical faults then, resulted in data loss from the hard drive. Apple devices data recovery tools helped me recovered them though. I would not suggest using an external source to charge your Mac.