It seems that laptop computers never have quite enough ports for all of the hard drives and other peripherals you may need to connect. I found that to be especially–and painfully–true with the original MacBook Pro featuring the powerful M1 processor but with only two USB-C ports.
While there are many USB hubs available that provide additional ports for expansion, many of these hubs can prove frustrating because they aren’t able to provide a reliable connection for bus-powered hard drives, meaning hard drives that use a single cable for both data and power without an external power adapter.
Through trial-and-error I found a USB hub that provides a great solution including providing power for devices such as bus-powered hard drives.
The USB hub I’m using now connects to a USB-C port. It includes two USB-C ports on the hub, with one of those being used for power input. This is what enables the hub to power the various hard drives and peripherals I might connect to the hub.
With power plugged in the hub still has an available USB-C hub, and since the power goes into the hub the second USB-C port on my laptop remains available. The hub also includes two USB-A ports, an HDMI video connection, SD and Micro SD card readers, and an Ethernet port.
I’ve been very happy with the port expansion provided by the hub I’m now using. You can learn more about the Anker 8-in-1 USB hub here: