Computer USB whinge

kwikbreaks

The back of my desktop, like many I'm guessing, isn't easily accessible.

If I buy a USB storage device these days I usually make sure it's USB 3 for the extra speed. I'm guessing I'm not alone in that either.

Given that why have the last two desktops I've had, and I suspect many others, only had USB 2 ports on the front with the USB 3 ports at the back.

So - my solution - put a powered USB 3 hub in an easily accessible place. Now I find that MS at least with Windows 10 will "unmount" the wretched hub instead of just the drive when I go through the "safely remove USB device" routine so I have to unplug it and plug it back in to get it working again or take a chance on just unplugging the drive (which I often do anyway because idiot Windows thinks something is still using it even if I close every goddamned window).

I've just bought a USB 3 extension cable. I haven't used it yet but I'm wondering what GOTCHA will crop up with that.

Nilrem

That's odd with the USB3 hub, I've not seen that before.

With regards to front USB ports, depending on your motherboard there is a good chance that at least some of it's USB3 connections will be via "header" connections on the motherboard that lead to the sockets.

If so what you can do is fit a front panel connectivity unit to the machine (they fit in either 3.5" or 5.25" bays) which will give you access to the connections from the front of the case.
This is one example (the cheapest I could find quickly) of what I'm talking about., other versions might have more USB3 connections, USB2, Audio or card readers as well.

This does however depend upon your machine having the headers and a suitable front bay free for the panel (most motherboards above the budget variety will have at least two USB3 and two USB2 ports that connect via headers).

Some cases also had an "upgrade" kit available that would let you replace the USB2 ports with USB3 versions, but they tended to be higher end cases that were released just as USB3 started to become mainstream (the kits were done to save redoing the entire case).

What is your current machine?

kwikbreaks

It's an HP 8300 Elite Desktop Computer which has a custom front carrying the USB and audio ports and no spare 3.5 bay. It was an ex-corporate refurb which I got cheap. There may or may not be free headers - I haven't looked.

It's not an issue worth spending much money on and just a whinge rather that a request for help - unless somebody comes up with a (very) cheap solution.

unforeseen

That your answer. It's a machine intended for the corporate market. They don't care whether ports are USB 2 or 3.

USB works by default in Win 7+. USB3 doesn't work without an additional driver and in a lot of cases won't even work at USB without the driver or at boot time.

Extra hassle for businesses so leave them at the back where the can be forgotten about

kwikbreaks

I initially thought there was a free bay then remembered the hard drive (doh!) so altered my earlier post.

It came with Win 7 Pro and the USB 3.0 ports were working but I never tried it with a hub then.

Nilrem

Is the usb3 hub self powered (has it's own mains adaptor) or powered via the PC (just the usb cable to it).

That might make a difference with it disconnecting when you eject devices, although it shouldn't.

It may be an issue that can be resolved with newer drivers thinking about it.

kwikbreaks

Like every powered hub I've had it will work directly off the port with no additional power. If you operate a 4 port hub that way the available power from the original port is shared between the 4 so you can quickly run into problems using multiple external HDDs unless you use the provided PSU which supplements/replaces the power from the port. It runs using default MS drivers and I have no idea of where to look for alternatives.

As I said I'm not really looking for a fix for the hub I'm whinging about the illogical port placement.

elsien

I will join you in your whinge as my desktop has all the usb ports at the back. It didn't occur to me to check this when I bought it as it never occurred to me that they'd all be put in such a daft place.