TRENDnet TU2 NU4 - Hub - 4 x Hi-Speed USB - desktop

Je L'Adore

I have 3 separate hard drives hooked up to it and I use windows 7. Only one computer will ever be using it and I can download to whichever drive I want to. It does what I bought it for which was to have all 3 drives connected at once, will add another eventually, and pick and choose which drive I wanted to send certain stuff to. Thumbs up

I'm disappointed with this device and can not requirement it. It is not visible, to everything on the network. The point of anything on the network, is that you are making it available to others who are not near the source item. You might think that a device which has a Ethernet interface would be plug and play. Not this thing, it is a time transporter, it will transport you back to 1992.You need to load software for every PC on the network. What's that you say, "Most people today have more than just PC's, they have smartphones, handheld devices and dare I say Mac's or machines with Ubuntu." Well, your out of luck because the TRENDnet 4-Port Network hub, must refer to something other than a computer network, what that other network, is I don't know.Each and every time you want to see a device connect via TRENDnet network hub, you must use their software to connect it, no it will not automatically connect. It will how ever, automatically disconnect. So if you have software that automatically backs up documents, once or twice a day, it won't work because your 560gb portable drive has disappeared from the network, either because you forgot turn off the auto disconnect or because you didn't reconnect it at the software interface when first booted the device. After all, don't we all enjoy repeatedly connecting devices to the network.Some advice to TRENDnet: Buy LaCie, study their Network-Attached Storage Operating System or put your name on it and sale it at a loss.

I spent a lot of time with this product getting it to work for me. On 1 of my machines, things worked great, but my other machines couldn't connect to it. I discovered 3 networking issues (not including drivers): You must be on the same subnet, same switch and use NEW network cards. This means that VM's are out of the question unless you are using the latest version of VMWare or MS HyperV (and you are NOT using Emulated Legacy NICs). Outside of networking issues, the drivers are bunk. If they work, awesome, things should be fine for while when using things that take little power and do not use much bandwidth. Security authentication is out of the question (Eg: SmartCard readers) as the drivers do not properly transmit all the necessary details about the device. At least the drivers are signed, so that saved me at least one hassle. If the drivers don't work, you might need to install/re-install the software multiple times. IF that doesn't work, another issue is hitting you and to fix that, you need to go into your Device Manager and look for exclamation points. There's a good chance the driver needs a good kick to get going (right click, update or uninstall) and you should be good to go.I eventually got it working, but for the price and cost, it should not be this difficult. I'm going to find a device that is actually supported by their manufacturer as my attempts at customer service was a bust.

I was a bit worried because of the reviews read, but decided to test it out on my own. First, for the price you usually get one port; in this one you get 4 (usb printers and/or external drives). I read carefully the guide which is easy going. Installed as instructed on my main computer (desktop); everything was reconized and working as advertised and needed (an HP photosmart C6250 and Seagate Desk hardrive). Then proceeded to install on my wife's laptop using the same procedure and everything works great. Didn't take more than 15 to 20 minutes on both - including the 2 restarts. I have Windows 7 on both.The communication between both computers in terms of which will use the device plugged is simple and the connect or disconnect by the user is easy. For me it works. Got what I paid for. I give it 4 stars because it can improve the connect or disconnect feature; I would prefer it would do the process on its own and not need the users input. Maybe TrendNet is working on firmware update that will tackle the situation.I've done folder and image backup of both PCs using the external Seagate drive. My wife is happy because we placed the picture folder on the drive and she can access the photos for her scrapbooking; without needing my pc on.Reviews can be tricky; what works for some doesn't for others. Can be computer related or knowledge base by the user. In general, it works.....