Belkin F5L009 Network USB Hub Print Server

1. Posted: Aug 30 2008

   I was concerned about getting this because other reviews said it didn't work with WD MyBook Hard Drives. Since that would have been a bonus for me and what I really needed was to make my scanner accessible to my wireless laptop, I gave this a try. I am happy to say that it hooked up very easily, just followed the instructions. It had software version 1.4 already so no upgrade needed. It recognized my scanner right away along with an external Zip drive and to my surprise and delight the WD MyBook Essential 250g hard drive! I haven't had much time to experiment ( a couple days) and I will report back if things change but everything is working as advertised and I am able to access it all from my laptop no problem. Please NOTE: This unit is NOT wireless but I have it hooked up to my wireless network and that is why I can connect wirelessly to these things. The other note is that while things are all working well, transferring data to/from the WD MyBook Hard Drive is NOT fast. It is working without problem but it takes some time. For my back up purposes it is fine.

2. Posted: Aug 15 2008

   All in all, I'm pleased. It's not perfect, but it works much more smoothly than I expected. However, I knew before purchasing that it is not wireless, and is not really a print server. I have it connected to: Samsung 1430 printer Iomega 33748 desktop hard drive Canon BJC-2100 Dell 1600n multi-function printer/scanner/copier/fax (this is supposed to be a network MFP, but the network scanning is a joke) So far I've only tested it with 2 computers at once, one XP, the other Vista. Setup was pretty easy. There is no setup to do on the appliance at all; just plug it in to power, your network, and some USB devices. It gets an IP address from DHCP and detects what devices are connected to it. Every computer that wants to use it, though, has to have the "Hub Control Center" installed. It's a simple install that also installs whatever shim it is that convinces Windows you have equipment connected to a USB port when it's really on the network. On the computer that uses the Windows built-in firewall, after the setup program ran, I was in business. I did have to manually set up a rule on one computer's BitDefender firewall to allow incoming traffic from the hub. The manual was pretty clear on what needed to be done, with step-by-step instructions for the most popular firewalls (although not for BitDefender). I bought this thing in order to share the above devices, so I set the printers up to connect only when needed. That option is only for printers, and only seems to work for printing. The external hard drive I set to manually connect. I set the 1600n MFP to connect only when needed, which works for the printing function, but I have to manually connect to scan. Compatibility with my hardware: Samsung 1430 It works just fine with one problem: if I turn off the printer, then later turn it back on, the hub doesn't detect that it's back, and says the printer is "unavailable." If I unplug, then replug the USB cable, it comes right back up. Annoying, but not a big issue. Canon BJC-2100 It works fine, connecting and disconnecting automatically. There is one very odd behavior. With some files, the print job completes, but for some reason the job remains in the queue. The most peculiar thing is that if you send other print jobs, they will go through, ignoring the leftover job ahead of them. So everything works fine, but if you open up the print queue, you see this long queue of phantom jobs, which sit there until deleted. Dell 1600n The print part works fine, but since the 1600n comes with a print server, it's not all that useful. It is very useful for scanning. I have to manually connect to the 1600n in order for the scan to work, but that only requires three clicks. And if you weren't going to share the 1600n scanner, you could just set your computer to stay connected all the time. Iomega 33748 Again I have to connect manually when I want to use it, but I could choose to always be connected if I weren't sharing it. Otherwise it seems to work fine. I did a little speed testing, and while small files (10 MB or less) copy in 30 seconds or so, which is acceptable, when I copied a 1.3 GB file, it took about 20 minutes. During that time, my computer was much less responsive, though I couldn't find any reason for it (CPU and HD usage stayed below 25%). The same file took only 1 minute when the drive was plugged directly into my computer. Sharing resources: I haven't done much testing of this, but when I print simultaneously to the Samsung ML-1430, the hub handles the contention nicely, automatically connecting the first computer, and on the second computer showing that the device is connected to another computer, then disconnecting the first computer when that print job is done, and automatically connecting the second computer and completing the print job. If one user is connected to the external HD, I can see that in the Hub Control Center, and can "Request Use" of the hardware. A little text message pops up on the connected computer, and then if the connected computer disconnects, the requesting computer can manually connect. One of the weirdest things about it is that they tout its wireless ability (the box has the word "wireless" on it at least 11 times), but it has only a 10/100BaseTX port, so in order to get wireless access, you have to connect it to a wireless access point or router, not included (which is clear if you read the whole box). The box also touts it as "the industry's 1st reliable print server" even though it isn't a print server. It does seem to be a reliable way to share printers, though, so it does the same job as a print server. The difference is that the print queues are maintained on the desktops and contend for the printer, instead of going into a central queue on the print server.

3. Posted: Jul 30 2008

   Belkin, I understand you tried to solve a big problem with this product. Problem is...well...it doesn't work! Why this product is still on the market is amazing to me, because I have yet to meet anyone who loves this, or read a completely positive review of the Belkin Networked USB Hub. It's not truly wireless (false advertising, IMHO), and freezes up your computer when you connect an external hard drive to it to use over a wireless network. That's right, Mac users, it's not just your systems. Us PC'ers are feeling the pain, too. Conclusion: please save your money, and wait it out for a product that can actually do what this product claims!

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