Exactly how many USB devices can you plug into your computer? Well the simple answer is as many as you have USB ports, however last week I received an email from Anne who says that her computer is struggling to provide power to all of her USB devices.
If you’re just plugging in a keyboard, mouse and perhaps a flash drive or two at the same time you should be fine, however if you start to plug in accessories that require more power, such as external hard drives that don’t have their own power source, then you may find that – especially on older computers, this will draw more power than is available.
The solution here is to buy an external powered USB hub. This will allow you to connect as many devices to your computer as needed without any concerns over additional power load on your computer. Here’s an example from Belkin – http://www.belkin.com/au/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=576740
More information from Microsoft for anyone getting an error message when plugging in a USB device that doesn’t work – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310591
Apple also have some information on the power issue with USB ports – http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25618
