Review on 🔌 Enhance Connectivity with Targus PAUH210U USB 2.0 4-Port Hub by Ronnie Polk

I had high hopes for this little machine. It was exactly what I needed. It is inexpensive and manufactured/distributed by Targus, a company specializing in travel gear. Unfortunately, both the original that was delivered to me and the replacement turned out to be completely non-functional. Let me take a closer look at why this might be so helpful to me (and many others I'm sure). My old laptop has 2 USB ports. I'm an IT consultant and I travel every week, staying in hotels or motels. For work I have 4 USB sticks and 2 external USB hard drives with me. I also have a cell phone that needs charging and a SanDisk music player that needs charging. The last two devices can be charged via the laptop's USB port if required. When I get to my hotel room at night, I often need to plug in external hard drives to keep them in sync and maybe refresh the contents of some of my flash drives as well. Two USB ports on my laptop just aren't enough. Even if I (usually) had a newer 3-port laptop, I'd still be juggling devices. And you know how hotels can be: there are always not enough free sockets. Most of the time, I turn off my watch (I use my own, more reliable one) and plug my laptop into an available outlet. This is how the Targus PAUH210U USB 2.0 4-port hub was born. You can only connect the black connector and have three additional USB ports. But what's even more convenient is that the red connector can be used to boost the hub's power output from 500mA to more than 2A, which is necessary when I want to charge my phone and music player and also access my two hard drives. Theoretical My real world experience is that out of 7 devices I connected to the Targus Hub only 1 was recognized. These are: Seagate FreeAgent 320GB Western Digital 1TB External Hard Drive My Passport External Hard Drive Patriot XT 8GB Flash Drive Kensington G2 8GB Flash Drive Lexar 4GB Flash Drive Color Turn 4GB Flash Drive SanDisk Sansa Clip Music Player ONLY ONE of these devices were recognized and available by Windows XP. Kingston Drive. Keep in mind that I use these devices on multiple computers on a daily basis and never have a problem with them. It's true that a Western Digital drive needs to have a driver installed to work properly (unlike Seagate, which doesn't have one); However, the driver is already installed on my PCs. I've tried every possible combination of ports and devices on both my home computer and two laptops. Bad luck. To make matters worse, I found that the first Targus hub would occasionally recognize the Western Digital drive if I wiggled the connector and partially removed it from the hub. In all my years of using various USB devices, I've never had to do this. So in conclusion: either I was very unlucky and got two lemons in a row; or Targus is selling something that just doesn't work. I strongly recommend not buying this product; and review other Targus products with a very skeptical eye. I will email Targus Customer Support and update this review if necessary. Incidentally, the Osprey Talon dealer was very helpful and sent me a replacement without asking for an exchange. Needless to say, they lose money in the process, and it's certainly not their fault.