USB Hubs are a very common product now, everyone has so much stuff that they seem to always need to plug something else in but there never seems to be enough ports to do it. Since there are so many brands and styles of hubs, what does a company do to make theirs stand out from the crowd and make you buy it over any others out there?

Today for review I’ve got a product that not only adds five more USB connections to your computer but also adds an SATA port and an eSATA port. It seems to be a well made product with good intentions on creating something that could be very useful to many people out there.

So continue on to learn more and see the tests that I ran…

3-in-1 E-SATA, SATA and USB 5-port Hub Combo Review

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Sponsor: USBFever

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

3-in-1 E-SATA, SATA and USB 5-port Hub Combo from USBFever

Product Code#:AL285-A940

Price: US$32.99

Highlights:

This 3-in-1 E-SATA, SATA and USB Combo Hub turns any SATA or eSATA mass storage device into a convenient external USB 2.0 High-Speed drive.

Features:

– USB 2.0 interface, transfer rate up to 480Mbps, backwardly compatibly with USB 1,1

– Adds 5 USB 2.0 Hi-speed ports, 1 ESATA port, and 1 SATA port

– Supports full speed and low speed data transfer

– Supports hot plug-and-play

– Each USB Port is a separate LED that lets you view more convenient working conditions of each port conveniently

– Supports up to 127 USB Devices

– Brilliant, small and exquisite shape.

– LED instructions.

Ports:

– 1 upstream port with mini USB 5 pin connector

– 5 downstream ports with USB A connectors

– 1 downstream port with SATA connector

– 1 downstream port with ESATA connector

Package includes:

– 3-in-1 E-SATA, SATA and USB 5-port Hub Combo x 1

– USB cable x 1

Note:

– SATA and ESATA cable are NOT included

A Better Look at Things

:

The 3-in-1 E-SATA, SATA and USB 5-port Hub Combo comes in an easy open plastic clamshell package, with the device being seen through the front, and basic specs and features listed on the back.

The 3-in-1 Combo Hub only comes with a USB cable, which I actually found sort of odd, as how does one power the SATA drive without a power cable?!

The 3-in-1 feels well made, it is a textured hard plastic casing with a metal strip on the top with the name, along the front edge are a bunch of LEDs as well.

This device adds five USB ports, one SATA port and one eSATA port via the USB cable, so it’s more than just a USB hub.

On the bottom of rubber feet and an identification label that also lists speeds.

Installation, Testing and Comparison

Installation is easy, plug it in and Windows XP recognizes it and installs the drivers for it.

There are a bunch of LEDs on the front of the device that light up when something is plugged in and blink to indicate activity.

Here’s a couple shots of a few USB drives and a Bluetooth adapter connected to it:

I used my OCZ Rally2 Turbo Flash drive for testing, I connected it to the USB port on my computer and ran HDTach RW from SimpliSoftware, then I ran the same test with the Rally2 Turbo connected to the 3-in-1 Hub as well to see if there was any difference.

As you can see there really is not much of a difference in speed, Average Write speed slowed down a bit, and CPU Usage went up while using the Hub, but nothing major…

Next up I’ve got a 200gig Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA Hard Drive that I ran HDTach RW on as well, I first hooked it directly to my motherboard as you would normally hook up an SATA hard drive, then I hooked it up to the hub via the SATA port, and then I used an eSATA enclosure to hook to the hub via the eSATA port.

(Write test was not enabled with HDTach for this series of tests as the hard drive has data on it and HDTach erases any data for the write test.)

The speed is virtually the same for SATA and eSATA connections, and if we look back the the tests for the OCZ Rally2 Turbo the speeds are close to the same, so this little gadget just turns your SATA HDD into a big USB drive.

Since the 3-in-1 Combo Hub does not come with any type of power supply, I had to hook my SATA HDD to my power supply, it’s kind of pointless to have the SATA connection on here if you need to do that.

Of course the eSATA connection was fine as my HDD enclosure is self-powered, so that’s fine being there.

I guess this product can work fine in a situation where you can’t access the eSATA connection on the back of your computer, or if you don’t have one at all.

Summary:

The 3-in-1 Combo Hub is a good product overall for what it does, the speed seems comparable to just using a USB connection for your flash devices.

The SATA and eSATA connections though leave a bit to be desired, there is no power supply included to power an SATA drive so you’ll have to open your case and get power from your PSU, that’s a pain to do and some might not just want to do that. The eSATA connection works fine, but it only runs are USB speeds, it’s fine for a quick connect if need be, or if there isn’t on on the computer you’re working on, but not something I’d use all the time

DragonSteelMods gives the 3-in-1 E-SATA, SATA and USB 5-port Hub Combo a 4.5 out of 5 score.

Pros:

-Convenient

-Well made

-Small, portable

-Fast

Cons:

-No external power included

-Gets warm to touch

I would like to thank USBFever for the chance to review the 3-in-1 E-SATA, SATA and USB 5-port Hub Combo and for their continued support of DSM.

Discuss, Questions HERE

review# 411