Question 1

I have a Dell will this work so I have 2 USB 3.0 slots?

Accepted Answer

Hi Charlie,
It will work with your Dell as long as it has an express card slot.
It will not work at 3.0 speed. It needs a USB to a  hollow pin  cable to provide the 5 volts DC that it needs to provide the enhanced speed and even then, although it will be considerably faster than USB 2.0, it will not come close to 5 GB/sec USB 3.0 speed. Which is partly due to the limitations of the bus speed of the express card slot and the fact that it needs 5 volt DC power. If it is powered, from my experience I would estimate about two to three times the speed of 480MB/sec USB 2.0.

Without the power cable it will not be any faster than your USB 2.0 connection. You will have to contact the company for a cable as it doesn't come with one. I had a 5 volt AC to DC adapter with the right size pin and I use that to power it. Unless you have a large collection of old power adapters you will likely not have one with the right size pin as it is quite small and this obviously is only useful if your laptop is primarily used in a permanent location.

If you can't find the USB to hollow pin cable to power it and you just need more outlets, you can find compact 3 port splitters to plug into one of your USB 2.0 ports.

Question 2

i have a dell latitude e6420 will this work at USB 3.0 speed?

Accepted Answer

I have a Dell Latitude e6520, and it works at USB 3.0 speed. Card is a little tight in the slot of my machine, but that turns out to be a positive, since thumb drives or whatever can be removed without the card coming out. Might not be the same on your computer.

Question 3

power supply?

Accepted Answer

No power supply (AC Adapter) is included, but the card includes a small cable which takes additional 5VDC from one of your pre-existing USB 2.0 ports (500MA).  The spec for 3.0 is 900MA, so the parasitic cable helps meet that spec for the two ports on this card.  I bought a 5VDC AC adapter to occasionally allow me to offload the power requirement from the laptop and allow me to use all of the pre-existing ports.

Question 4

I purchased similar GYMLE "AKE" item which gives me USB Voltage Current errors.  Has anyone experienced same problem with the star tech?

Accepted Answer

I have not encountered any such errors with this card.  I have 2 of these and they work fine for me.  Keep in mind external drives without a power source will need the included usb / power adapter to be plugged into a wall and connected to the PCI card.

Question 5

Can I use it with an HP EliteBook 8440p notebook?

Accepted Answer

Hello there, Thank you for contacting us in regards to your question. Unfortunately that is not a question we can answer, but you can contact the manufacturer directly for possible assistance. Their contact information can be found under the 'Warranty & Returns' tab and will be listed below. Website: https://www.startech.com/ Support Phone: 1-800-265-1844 Support Email: support@startech.com Support Website: https://www.startech.com/support Thank you, Newegg Support

Question 6

will this work in a MacBook pro?  do flash drives need the power adapter?

Accepted Answer

Don't know about the MacBook pro.  If you can find drivers/software then it should.  As for the power adapter it's completely optional and really not needed for flash drives.

If you try to plug in a drive that has is supposed to be USB3 but doesn't have it's own power source, then you'll need the power adapter to get USB3 speeds.

Questions & Answers