Five-port USB hub does SATA and eSATA, too

Brando, e-tailer of products that you didn't even know existed -- and some that probably shouldn't -- has just released a new USB hub capable of handling SATA and eSATA drives to boot. That's right, along with hooking up five USB peripherals of your choice, you can also use the combo hub as a quick and easy way to swap out external hard drives without dealing with enclosures, RAID controllers, and the like -- at the expense of transfer speeds, of course. Available immediately, the mutant hub is going for a mere $33, or $43 if you want Old Man Brando to bundle in a power cord, too.

[netposer @ Nov 28th 2007 9:08AM]

Haha, they have some of the coolest USB stuffs
http://usb.brando.com.hk/

[MDB @ Nov 28th 2007 9:28AM]

The hub itself plugs into the PC's USB port, so SATA and eSATA devices would be limited to 480 MBps. But still very convenient.

[Bizam! @ Nov 28th 2007 9:30AM]

Max SATA Theoretical Speed: 3Gb/Sec
Max USB 2.0 Theoretical Speed: 480 Mb/Sec

The point: If you need to hook up a SATA drive to this thing to get some data off of it real quick, yeah, that'll work, but don't try anything fancy, it'll slow your drive transfer rates significantly.

[netposer @ Nov 28th 2007 9:45AM]

So it's no different than getting a USB (SATA/IDE) HDD External Enclosure?

[Teren @ Dec 1st 2007 3:12AM]

Yeah, and SATA drive practical read speed: 80MB/sec...

[eliterrell @ Nov 28th 2007 11:15AM]

Teren:
80 MB/s is 640 Mb/s. Uppercase Bs are byes, b's are bits. USB will be the limiting factor in reading disks this way.

[ethana2 @ Nov 28th 2007 2:49PM]

Well, instead of making a protocol that can scale up easily, they found a way to make us buy new stuff. USB 3.0 will fix this... until /next/ time.

Oh, no! TCP/IP only works up to 1.5 Mbps! Whatever shall we do? Buy new routers, of course!
...
scale.

[mypetridish @ Nov 28th 2007 10:23AM]

i got the same thing on newegg minus the USB ports for $20

It even handles PATA and notebook PATA, plus the aforementioned SATA. it also has a power cord

i dont know what's the big deal with the device in the post, it's more expensive by $20 for the extra USB ports.

p/s search for VANTEC CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 on newegg to fimd what im talking about

[mike @ Nov 28th 2007 1:20PM]

Yeah.. I've been meaning to get a new one with SATA. I've had an older IDE only ono for a few years. It has not worked on a drive or two in that time... but mostly it has worked and when it does it is usually a life saver.
Not for everyday use, but an awesome tool in the toolkit.

- mike

[mypetridish @ Nov 28th 2007 2:19PM]

it saved me alot of time in many occasions. i dont have to open my pc just to get access to my IDE ports. also, i managed to help a friend with his notebook SATA HDD which he had to access without his broken laptop.

the item mentioned in this post is overpriced.

[andyo @ Nov 29th 2007 8:15AM]

Yeah, I also have the same device. I have found a little cumbersome to have to plug the power cord, though, so it works best with PATA laptop drives, that don't require it, and since speed is USB 2.0 anyway, SATA is not really necessary. I am looking for old laptops from friends to get their HDDs.

I also use it with a 500GB SATA drive, where I keep my HD movies. Works great that way too, and it's perfectly scalable, I don't have to get any enclosures.

[tekdroid @ Nov 28th 2007 11:07AM]

$10 premium for a power cord?

[Alexander @ Nov 28th 2007 11:08AM]

I would be happy with a USB 2.0 hub that had more than 4 ports, was powered, wasn't eleventy-billion dollars, and didn't look like it was designed by 4 5-year old.

[Matthew Hilario @ Nov 28th 2007 12:12PM]

this is the greatest thing ever.. $33 dollar usb hub > $300 external harddrive enclosure

[RoboDan @ Nov 28th 2007 12:32PM]

So what?

USB 3.0 is in the works now, and it'll be rated at 4,800 Mb/s (600MB/S)

Now that's an interface I can get behind... so where's the story about that, engadget?

Read about it at Intel.com (Newswire)

[murray @ Nov 28th 2007 12:57PM]

I don't know why Engadget would report this boring device when the same company also sells such exciting products as the

mouse with build-in label printer

and the

USB alarm clock blender!

[murray @ Nov 28th 2007 12:58PM]

Sorry, forgot hrefs don't work.

printer-mouse: http://usb.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00375&dept_id=015&cat_id=035
blender-clock: http://usb.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00364&dept_id=015&cat_id=035

[nonamo @ Nov 28th 2007 1:19PM]

Hmmmm.... and wheres the HDD power coming from?????????

[ManitookMan @ Nov 28th 2007 6:11PM]

from the E-Sata port on you computer of course

that looks like a deal breaker to me...


wait there it is

# Package Contents:
# USB to SATA/ESATA with 5 USB Ports Combo Hub
# USB Cable
With Power supply Bundle
# Hard Drive Power supply
# Power cord
# 12V/SATA Power Y-Cable

[Ann @ Nov 28th 2007 6:51PM]

I just picked up one of these that does PATA (3.5" and 2.5") and SATA with the power cable for $10 at Fry's Electronics.