[hyde01]

I was wondering if these HTPC boxes like HP Stream, Zotac, Nuc, etc have enough processor to control 5-6 external devices at the same time via powered USB hubs?
With my current (pretty old) Vostro PC, the boot squence hangs when I connect more than 2 drives via external (powered) USB hub. So I was considering getting something like this:

http://flash.newegg.com/Product/0J2-001S...7_05262015

Which looks great on paper, I am sure people use USB hubs even though most HTPC's have enough USB ports.
Thanks.

[teki4u]

You'll be better with something like this, but if you can't afford it then at list get a better USB hub. Starting for one with usb 3.0 ports at list some of the 10 for example. Second for that amount of usb ports in the Orico one i don't think 2.5A is enough if you connect 5-6 external devices at the same time, worst of they are external hdd's.

For USB hubs i woud suggest this with 3 USB 3.0 of the 10 USB ports, or this one which is very similar to the one you posted BUT all 10 ports are USB 3.0 and comes with 12V 4A Power Adapter, not 12V 2.5A like the Orico one.

[hyde01]

You'll be better with something like this, but if you can't afford it then at list get a better USB hub. Starting for one with usb 3.0 ports at list some of the 10 for example. Second for that amount of usb ports in the Orico one i don't think 2.5A is enough if you connect 5-6 external devices at the same time, worst of they are external hdd's.

For USB hubs i woud suggest this with 3 USB 3.0 of the 10 USB ports, or this one which is very similar to the one you posted BUT all 10 ports are USB 3.0 and comes with 12V 4A Power Adapter, not 12V 2.5A like the Orico one.

Wow they all look great, I like the 1st one especially, however I wish it had ethernet port on the back for turning it into a NAS, but it's OK. Do you know of one that can use 2.5" drives instead of 3.5" drives?
I like that last one, I guess I will definitely get one of these, I am trying to connect at least 3 (possibly 4) external passport (2.5") drives with no power supply, so they need to be supplied by the Hub, which is probably why it was crashing my computer, most likely not enough voltage to cover 3 external drives and other stuff I got hooked up to it. So 12V / 4A will be OK? If I am not mistaken, each hard drive requires 100mA (0.1A) and normally max power available for each USB port is 500mA (0.5A) this means at 3 HDDs on same USB, it should still be OK if they just use up to 400mA. I guess my USB hub is ancient or something, and if it is USB2, this would probably make matters worse.

[teki4u]

The Mediasonic PROBOX model i linked you to is only for 3.5" dirves so you will need 3.5" to 2.5" adapter for each bay. Now there is also this, the only thing is that your drives will be exposed to dust for example (not biggy) and as the case is not metal and the thing has no cooling, drives will feel hot.

12V 4A power adapter should be enough

[hyde01]

The Mediasonic PROBOX model i linked you to is only for 3.5" dirves so you will need 3.5" to 2.5" adapter for each bay. Now there is also this, the only thing is that your drives will be exposed to dust for example (not biggy) and as the case is not metal and the thing has no cooling, drives will feel hot.

12V 4A power adapter should be enough

Thanks, for that kind of situation, I'd rather use a hub because with that it's practically still a hub, except with an option of raid, I assume. It would be really cool to have enclosed box which I could use 4 x 2.5" drives that I could use in mirror raid (2 each) for back up and security.

[Namoi]

You can also have a look at the icycube which is a little more WAF compliant IMHO ;-)

Edit : and can handle 2.5 hdd with its hotswap bays from the box.

http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/stor...ure-review

Just be sure to grab the last release with usb3 support.

[Namoi]

Oups can't edit anymore.
This one from Oyen is also great with 5 bays.

http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/3R5-EB3-M.html

And this one from addonics which is customizable is worth a look too

http://www.addonics.com/products/mst.php

[hyde01]

Thanks, these are some great options, but I think I'll keep that money and use it towards HTPC and use HUB for the time being, because the other reason I wanted to get something like this was to allow access to my drives from Fire TV Stick, since non of these have Ethernet, and normal NAS enclosures are way too expensive (almost cost of PC), I'll use Hub.

[Namoi]

Those are not NAS but usb/esata enclosures... same as a hub, but ...with an enclosure ;-).