Customer Reviews

Adaptec AUA-5100 USB 2.0 6 Port (5 external, 1 internal) Card

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought a 120 GB USB 2 External Hard drive a few weeks ago and was very happy with this easy to add storage--except for the speed. It was adequate under USB 1.1 but you really needed to dedicate some serious time to copy large amounts of data. Last week I installed the Adaptec 6-port USB 2 Card--what a difference! The card was very easy to install and my Dell 8200 running XP had no trouble using the Adaptec driver. The Adaptec web site offers a lot of good support information as well as a comprehensive help forum. Before USB 2, it took about an hour to copy a 3GB data file. Under USB two, about 5 minutes. I'm glad I got the 6 port hub--I expect I'll be adding more USB 2 components in the future.

Installation on a XP PC was super-easy. Just follow the instructions, carefully remove the back (case) of the PC, select the appropiate port, slap it in, replace the cover, turn the PC on - and PRESTO! you're ready to go!
XP recognizes the Port Card and it is ready to use.
Highly recommended.

I highly recommend the Adaptec AUA-5100 USB 2.0, 6 port card by Adaptec because of problems with Iogear. I originally purchased the Iogear GCI 250 U, 5 port, USB 2.0 PCI card and had severe problems. When shutting down my PC, the Iogear USB card would send a heavy pulse, most of the time, that would just about snap off the Microsoft Force Feedback 2 joy stick handle. Iogear e-mailed me a new driver. After installing the new driver, the problem still existed. Iogear told me to send the USB card back to Amazon.com for credit -- Iogear had no suggested fixes! The Adaptec AUA-5100 works just like Adaptec says it should. The Adaptec card is well worth the extra money. (Is the Iogear sending damaging pulses into printers?) Plus, Amazon.com promptly credited my account when I returned the Iogear USB card. I highly recommend Adaptec and definitely Amazon.com!

This adapter indeed does have 6 physical ports, but they are not all usable at once. It is actually usable as a 5 external USB port adapter or a 4 external/1 internal USB port adapter.

Not mentioned anywhere on Amazon's product page or the product's customer reviews is the following, quoted directly from Adaptec itself:
[...]
"*Only five of the six ports can be used simultaneously. Set jumpers internally to select the internal or one of external ports"

Please just keep that in mind, should you be expecting a full use of all 6 ports.

Fantastic product. Easy installation on XP computer. No problems at all. Installation and operation of this product was better that the reviews and my high expectations.

Some devices just work better when directly connected instead of with a hub. I bought this to give my system extra ports and it works great, no problem to install.

This card is working fine for me so far. I read a review here that said this card slowed down their system by 50%. I did not experience any slow down. To be sure of this, I ran a benchmarking program before and after installing the card, and the results were the same within the measurement error (determined by running the benchmark a couple of times before installing the card). I installed the card on a WinXP (SP1) machine with an AMD Duron 1.3 GHz CPU and a KM266-8235 motherboard. Perhaps the other reviewer had problems due to an older system? (just a guess).

Installation of the card was easy. Just plug it in and WinXP identified it immediately.

Installation on an XP computer was easy. No problems with any aspect of this product. Friendly software that is actually quite cool. Great product.

I was excited to get USB 2 capaabilities when I installed this. Installation was easy and without problems. I ran both a wireless mouse and a network on the card and all worked fine. BUT, I noticed my computer ran a full 50% slower! I unplugged the USB devices without improvement. I removed the card and the computer ran a bit faster. I turned off USB support in the BIOS and the computer ran fast again. The card works fine. I like USB, but I'm not willing to take a 50% performance hit. My computer is 2 years old with an AMD K6-2 450 Mhz on a PC100 super socket 7 motherboard. Maybe on-board USB-2 support is required. I'm now cautious about USB. I've removed the card.

No problems as all installing this product. So far I have three USB ports occupied, all work flawlessly and quickly. I highly recommend purchasing this card with five ports as to one with fewer. You never know when you'll need another free port.