GUIDE TO USB SERIAL ADAPTERS

StarTech.com PCI220USB 2-Port Ultra Fast USB 2.0 Serial Adapter

Manufacturer : STARTECH.COM
In Stock : 28

List Price:	$29.99
Price:	$10.01
You Save:	$19.98 (67%)

Features

Easily add two USB 2.0 ports to your desktop computer
Offers high speed data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbits/sec.
Hot swap capabilities allow you to connect and disconnect devices without turning off your computer
PC and Mac compatibl
WHQL Certified, designed to work with MicrosofeetWindows XP

Product Description

StarTech.com's PCI220USB is a 2-port USB 2.0 expansion card that will help you connect next-generation video cameras, printers, scanners and external storage products to your PC through the ultra-fast (up to 480Mbps) USB 2.0 card. USB 2.0 is an exciting technology that features high speeds, backwards compatibility with older USB 1.1 peripherals like PDAs, webcams, printers and more, and easy Plug and Play installation. StarTech.com's PCI220USB is fully compliant with both USB 2.0 and 1.1 specifications. It allows you to link up to 127 USB devices together, increasing the power of your computer without sacrificing speed and performance. The card provides 2 USB 2.0 ports (external, downstream) that support the Plug and Play specification.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating of 4.00 out of 6 reviews

Rating :
Says Mac Compatabile, but not at Usb 2.0, just Usb 1.1 - Grant Thienemann, Jul 24, 2007

I bought this seeing that StarTech said this pci Usb 2.0 card would also work on my Mac. I got the card, installed it into my computer and booted my computer. The driver cd they provided included a ton of drivers, however they were not organized well at all.

I finally found about 12 Mac drivers and since none of them said what exactly what they were, I proceeded to install all of them, I would usely just get to the screen that tells me what the driver was for and then quit if it was not the Usb. Finally discovered there were 3 Usb drivers for the mac.

Anyway, after installing the correct driver, I rebooted my mac and proceed to plug in my Usb 2 device, the Elgato Turbo.264 - Video H.264 (MP4) Encoder Hardware 10020500, and it was not compatabile, the software could not see that I plugged in the Usb hardware encoder into my Mac.

After some investigating in System Profiler, the card was only running at Usb 1.1. That is when I went to StarTech's website and come to find out, yes the card is Mac Compatabile, but only at Usb 1.1. This card might work great for windows computers, however I do not recommend this card if you are looking to add Usb 2.0 for your Macintosh. I would recommend the Sonnet Allegro USB2 Serial Network Adapter. The Sonnet card is a true plug and play card for Macs.

Rating :
easy, cheap, and it works - S. Guthikonda, Jul 10, 2007

I plugged this into an open PCI slot, and booted up the WinXP machine. The drivers were automatically found. I didn't need the included cd. Now my old desktop has USB 2.0 speed, for less than 15$.

Rating :
Works on a G4 Mac - Wylie Fisher, Mar 21, 2007

I purchased this for use on my G4 Mac (Digital Audio) so I could plug my 2G iPod nano into it. The card fit well into the computer, no fuss no muss. Didn't even need to put the CD into the disc drive, just plug and play. So far so good. When I tried to plug the iPod cable into it the computer wouldn't mount the iPod in iTunes, or on the desktop. Only place I can find it is in the System Profiler. Very wierd.

Other than that the card works great, I have my printer plugged into it and it works very well.

Perhaps I have not found a way to have the iPod work with it. Hopefully a way is out there.

Rating :
Easy like 123. - John Bediako, Mar 15, 2006

The 2 Port Ultra fast USB 2.0 PCI was so easy to install my cat, Princess could have done it. It performs seamlessly as advertised. I will gladly recommend it to anyone considering the cost and the easy installation. My Multi-function printer is very happy.
John.

Rating :
Value for price - LynnE216, Feb 12, 2006

I ordered two of these, one for my XP computer at work, and one for my ME computer at home. They're both working perfectly now, but the installation didn't go anything like the User's Manual suggested it would.

The physical installation is no problem at all for anyone who can take the cover off the computer and recognizes a PCI slot. Software's a different story. If you don't panic easily and are fairly familiar with installing new hardware, this should go pretty well, but if you're a total computer novice, be prepared for some scary moments.

Before I could use the new ports, my ME machine demanded three files it couldn't find (usbntmap.sys, usbstor.sys, and usbmphlp.pdr). I'm not sure if they should have been provided on the software disc for the USB ports, or whether this was a problem of the DVD writer I was plugging into the port, but my Googling for an answer (and successfully finding and downloading copies of those missing files) suggested that they should have been provided by the USB port maker. They're readily available on the internet, so it wasn't a real problem, but the installation took about two hours and was much more nervous than I'd like.

Still, the price is very right, and I now have working USB-2 ports on both home and office systems. If you're comfortable with your computer, I would't hesitate to recommend this product.

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