One of the aspects that very few users pay attention to when buying a new PC is the number of USB ports available to connect peripherals, especially when it is a desktop computer, since most include 4 in the rear and 2 or 3 in the front. , depending on the box, we use ports which, in reality, are a extension of the last ones.
In portable equipment, it is important to know the number of ports available, especially when talking about ultra-portable equipment where USB ports are a very valuable and sometimes rare commodity. In addition, it is also important to know which type of ports (A or C) to connect hard drives, mice, keyboards or any other, although in these models most of the peripherals are connected via Bluetooth
If the number of ports available on our PC is insufficient, the solution is to use a HUB or hub connecting to a USB port and thus increase the number of available ports. Based on theory, everything seems to indicate that by using HUBs we can increase the number of USB Ports connecting infinitive devices this way, however, it’s really not like that.
How many USB sticks can you connect at once?
When we connect USB devices to a PC, the PC devotes resources to it in the form of energy. Depending on the type of device involved (a mouse does not consume the same amount of resources as an external hard drive), the PC loses resources, so the greater the number of devices connected, the less it is capable of offering resources to each device one.
It’s not a problem when you use 4 or 6 USB devices connected to the PC. This happens when the number of connected devices is very high and, although theory suggests otherwise, there is actually a maximum number of USB devices that can be connected to a PC at the same time.
The maximum number of USB devices that can be connected to a computer is 127. In order not to depend solely and exclusively on the electricity generated by the power supply, HUBs that include their own power supply can be used because otherwise a short -circuit can occur on the motherboard due to the high power demand, especially when it comes to devices that require their own power source, such as hard drives, webcams, among others, and if, in addition, they are used for charging mobile devices, power banks. among others.
It’s not just power issues that can affect PC operation. Bandwidth is another issue that appears when many USB ports are connected to a PC, since the bandwidth is shared with everyone. Connecting two external storage drives to two different USB ports is not the same as connecting both hard drives to a HUB connected to one. USB port.
The USB specification is limited to a maximum of 7 levels with a maximum of 6 HUBs, the main one included in the chipset of the base plateso there are actually 5 the number of HUBs that we can connect to a PC to increase the number of ports available.
