Home > Consumer Reviews > Adaptec AUA-5100 USB 2.0 6 Port Card

There's no end to the peripherals that require more, more, more USB connections, right? I researched and chose this PCI card as it had an honest 5 connections available after the super-easy install. Internal connectors aren't as convenient, but OK for things like iPods if you don't mind running a cord out of the back- it's always there when you need it. So this card has 5 external ports AND 1 internal- I'd recommend it even for your LAST open PCI slot! Price is right, install was a no-brainer, and it's trouble-free- great "Bang For The Buck"!! Beats those portable 4-way hubs in convenience and performance, for about the same money. Plus it's Adaptec!

I purchased a AUA-5100 USB card a few months ago and installed it on my Dell desktop running Windows XP. It worked fine for my scanner and camera and I was happy until last week when I bought an external hard drive (A Western Digital 160 GB "My Book) with a USB hook up. I was able to install the drive and also put some data on it, but a few days later, I could no longer access the drive. In fact it was no longer listed as one of my drives.

I went to the Western Digital website and found that they have a posting in their knowledge base saying that they have compatability issues with these USB cards. I e-mailed Western Digital customer service and they agreed and said that I should get another brand of card. I sent a follow up e-mail to them to see if it was just this model hard drive and they told me that probably no Western Digital exteranl HD would work.

I then contacted Adaptec and after first denying a problem, they also told me that maybe I should try another brand of USB card. Right now I'm not sure I want anything to do with either company.

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.

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.

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.