Usb 2

Wesker

I'm thinking of getting an external hard drive but they all seem to be USB 2. I have a Dell Dimension 4400 which only has USB 1. If i bought a USB 2 pci card how do i know if my motherboard would support it. Is there any way of telling? Thanks.

nearlyrich

It is usually backwards compatible so you should be OK

Toxteth_OGrady

nearlyrich wrote:

It is usually backwards compatible so you should be OK

Backwards compatible with what? OP is not looking for that he's trying to get full USB 2 connectivity with his new external HDD.

@wesker

If you have an empty PCI slot then it will work. The only problems you may encounter are if you if your existing power supply can't push out enough juice to cope with the load of the new card.

In addition if you have several PCI devices there is a small risk of getting a conflict (IRQ) between 2 or more devices.

Both the above are fixable.

:cool:

TOG

pchelpman

Toxteth_OGrady wrote:

Backwards compatible with what? OP is not looking for that he's trying to get full USB 2 connectivity with his new external HDD.

@wesker

If you have an empty PCI slot then it will work. The only problems you may encounter are if you if your existing power supply can't push out enough juice to cope with the load of the new card.

In addition if you have several PCI devices there is a small risk of getting a conflict (IRQ) between 2 or more devices.

Both the above are fixable.

:cool:

TOG

What he said.

One more thought I've come across in my travels.

If you are thinking of backing up to that external USB HDD using Norton's Ghost it may not work. Ghost likes INTERNAL HDDs.

Wesker

Thanks for the replies. Yeah i know it is backwards compatible and would work with USB 1 but would be very slow.

I actually have a USB 1 card in one of the pci slots now, so would replace that with a USB 2 card. I'm concerned about the motherboard tho as being a Dell i know they dont use bog standard motherboards if you know what i mean :rolleyes:

Wouldn't be using Norton Ghost so that is not a problem.

Wesker

Another thought, if i did install a USB 2 card but the motherboard didnt support it i guess it would still work but only at USB 1 speed. Is there any way of telling if its working as 1 or 2?

Toxteth_OGrady

As I explained earlier - it's not a mobo compatibility issue. If you've got a pci slot it will work. The only possible problems are the ones i posted earlier. If your USB 1 card works the so will your USB 2 that you replace it with - at full USB2 speed.

:cool:

TOG

Wesker

Toxteth_OGrady wrote:

As I explained earlier - it's not a mobo compatibility issue. If you've got a pci slot it will work. The only possible problems are the ones i posted earlier. If your USB 1 card works the so will your USB 2 that you replace it with - at full USB2 speed.

:cool:

TOG

OK thanks for confirming that, i always thought it depended on whether the motherboard supported USB 2 or not. Shows what i know lol

Toxteth_OGrady

Only if it's a USB connector that's integrated (i.e. physically part of) into the mobo.

:cool:

TOG

Wesker

Toxteth_OGrady wrote:

Only if it's a USB connector that's integrated (i.e. physically part of) into the mobo.

:cool:

TOG

So basically that means that the USB ports that came with the computer, 2 front and 2 back will only ever be USB 1? Suitable for mice, keyboards, printers etc

Toxteth_OGrady

Yep.

:cool:

TOG