If you want to start using USB 3.0 hard drives but don’t have any USB 3.0 ports on your laptop you will need an adaptor. We take a look at the Iomega USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adaptor.
With USB 3.0 drives now starting to be released, and with people wanting faster speeds, more people are finding that their current computer hardware doesn’t support USB 3.0 – because unless you have a fairly new machine you won’t have USB 3.0 ports!
Obviously this is a problem and unless you really feel like buying a new computer you need an adaptor.
This is where the Iomega USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adaptor – model number HBU-330NC comes in.
It is designed for use on a laptop – the only requirement being that your laptop has a 34mm ExpressCard slot on it. According to Iomega, the ExpressCard adaptor supports transfer speeds of up to 5 Gbits/s.
My Sony laptop has one, but my Toshiba netbook doesn’t – so its time to dust of the Sony again.
WHATS IN THE BOX?
Or rather what’s in the plastic package?
Apart from the adaptor, there is a driver CD, some paperwork and a USB/Power cable.
USING THE ADAPTOR
First things first – pop the CD into the drive and launch the software.
The software contains the drives and manuals for both the desktop card (which we will look at separately) and the ExpressCard, so click on that one – the HBU-330NC.
Click on Windows Driver to start the driver installation.
Click through the various steps to install the drivers – it doesn’t take very long at all.
And that’s it.
Then all you have to do is slide in the ExpressCard adaptor and let Windows detect it and install the drivers for you.
The final thing to do before connecting a USB 3.0 drive to it is to take the USB/Power cable and plug the power end into the adaptor (its on the side of the adaptor) and the USB end into a spare USB 2.0 slot.
And that’s it – you are ready to go.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As someone who uses external hard drives a lot, for me, the faster the better, and so if I want the fastest (USB) that I can get today I am going to need USB 3.0 but none of my hardware has USB 3.0 ports. So this little ExpressCard adaptor is perfect for my “portable” needs. And it even has 2 USB 3.0 ports on it!
It was very easy to install the drivers and was ready to go in only a few minutes.
Just remember before you go out and buy one of these that your laptop needs to have an ExpressCard slot or it wont work!
Price wise, the ExpressCard adaptor can be found online for under £30, so it isn’t going to break the bank, and that is certainly a lot cheaper than buying a new laptop!
We are also going to have a look at the desktop card and then it’s time to start looking at some USB 3.0 drives – so stay tunes.
I don’t understand the logic behind this whole thingie. You want to add two extra USB ports to your rig, but you need to use 1 USB to power the stupid thing, so you get 2, but take 1 ,uhhmmm, your back at square 1. Only thing changed is you got USB3.0
I don’t see any big advantage…
Well the big advantage is that you get USB 3.0 – so its a speed thing rather than an extra port thing. At least it is for me.