Recommended USB hub for Raspberry Pi

Hello all,

I’ve read quite a bit about various USB hubs for the Raspberry Pi, and there’s quite a bit of info about getting a hub that does not backfeed/backpower the USB powers, as this could result in damage to the Pi.

Now can anyone recommend a USB hub for use with the Pi, to power an external drive and WiFi dongle for wireless keyboard/mouse.

Cheers

Hi Pisickle,

Whilst it was an issue on older Raspberry Pi models, it isn’t much of an issue now due to the change in electrical design. Much of the issue was to do with powering the Pi of the same USB hub and poorly designed USB hubs, however it you just use the USB to extend the USB ports, and power your Pi seperately, you should be fine. Bear in mind though that the built in USB ports can handle external drives without a problem.

When you say Wi-Fi dongle, do you just mean a 2.4GHz wireless adapter for a keyboard/mouse? As the Raspberry Pi has built in WiFi.

Hi Sam,

The WiFi dongle is a 2.4GHz adapter for a wireless keyboard (with a built-in touchpad) that I have. It works fine on the Pi USB ports, I’m just wanting to add an external USB drive that is not externally powered.

Hi Pisickle,

Ah ok, just bear in mind that the 2.4GHz adapter isn’t a Wi-Fi adapter, it’s just a wireless adapter that operates in the 2.4GHZ band.
Even a bus powered harddrive should be fine.