For something so stupid simple, I am finding nothing. The ones I do find are $30-50 which is a joke. What I am looking for is 4 or 6 USB 2.0 ports on a 3.5" drive slot. I have an older case that does not have front USB. If I need to get front audio or firewire thats fine, but needs to be cheap.
Suggestions?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA24G1743208
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815150025
These products tend to be manufactured by "small-stuff" companies who nevertheless are established for them. I've used at least three manufactures of USB 2.0 3.5" front-panel hubs in either the five machines currently on the household network, or machines long-since retired.
Koutech, Bytecc, SYBA, SIIG -- possibly Rosewill . . . Belkin to name a few. I even have one spare in my parts locker brand new in the box which I could sell, but probably prefer to keep for any number of possible purposes.
You might try also other resellers, like Directron, TigerDirect, Provantage etc. See if you can find reviews for StarTech's offerings: they've made other different types of computer parts I'd found reliable, but that's not a guarantee about USB 2.0 hubs.
Some resellers may be feverishly crowding the line to offer only USB 3.0 units, thinking that older motherboards are being replaced by owners with newer ones featuring USB 3.
Also, some of these units might come with an "A-to-B" USB cable, expecting you to connect the cable through a specially-cut PCI slot to a rear USB port. I believe that this shortcoming -- lack of an internal cable -- may have been the manufacturer's judgment that most people in the mainstream are hardware and "tool" illiterates who are afraid to plug something into a motherboard header.
I have purchased such units, to take out my soldering iron and make a cable that would fit the 5 or 10-pin USB2 ports. There are all sorts of things you can do to avoid using the solder gun, though. Even so, your best bet is to find a unit/model which is bundled with the appropriate INTERNAL cable.
As to the price. $20 to $50 is about what to expect for these devices. If I bought some in 2005, they cost $25. If I bought them in recent years, they were $25. And now that I'm buying USB 3.0 models . . . they are about . . . $25 . . .
Don't buy a USB 3.0 unit unless you have the motherboard 19-pin port to accommodate it.
