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I would get my money back & invest a little more for a powered USB hub.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_12?...
I hope one of these gives you some indication of what you’re looking for.
Multi USB ports on surface laptop
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Anonymous
I have recently invested in a portable external Rioddas CD/DVD R/RW and a 2TB hard drive for my laptop. Unfortunately the Surface laptop only has one USB port and as such I bought a Sabrent 4-port USB 3.0 Hub with power switches. The issue I have is when both devices are connected the computer struggles to recognise either. I need the CD drive for work and the hard drive to save work on. The laptop is already pretty full of data so a working hard drive with the CD drive is essential. What I want to know is, is this an issue with the Microsoft surface laptop and can it be resolved? or do I need to get my money back in the items?
Windows for home | Other | Devices and drivers
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Obsessive Power 450 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator2019-02-17T18:04:18+00:00 The hub would be fine for connecting low power devices like a USB Flash drives or mouse, unfortunately the external hard drive and the optical drive require more power than that single USB connector can provide.
Seems rather old fashioned to use optical media for work purposes these days. Do you need to use both?
Besides, what you need is a laptop docking station. I'm pretty sure Microsoft makes one for the Surface Laptop, otherwise practically any universal dock will work.
What's the difference?
The big difference is that the dock is powered from an external power brick. Which means it can support higher powered devices attached to the laptop, like hard drives, and optical drives.
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Anonymous
2019-02-17T18:11:08+00:00 By the way, the Surface Dock recommended by Obsessive seems like the smart way to go if you need to have both connected.
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Anonymous
2019-02-17T18:05:03+00:00 Hi Andre,
There is a need as much of the data I download from CD I would like to save straight to the hard drive. Is there any way around this issue or will I need to plug the cd drive in, download the files to my laptop then plug in the hard drive and move the files to the hard drive and finally delete the files form the laptop?
Cheers
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Anonymous
2019-02-17T17:54:28+00:00 Hi William
Unfortunately, it looks like the single USB port does not have enough power to drive the hub with two devices connected such as an external USB thumb drive and USB CD/DVD drive.
Is there any particular need to always have the Rioddas CD/DVD R/RW always connected?