I bought this for my hub Surface Pro 3 and am very satisfied. Simply stroke to the terminal connect, then plug the Ethernet cable into the Hub. I could surf immediately and did not have to struggle through an installation. Plug & Play, wonderful! Unfortunately I could not test to see if an external drive works without separate power supply, since I do not have. But my BlackBerry I can charge so no problem in passing. The data transmission of USB 3.0 is fixed. Only the connecting cable between terminal and hub is something rigid. But that would be no reason for not buying. Thus, it seems more stable and not prone to a cable break. I can only recommend the USB 3.0 hub of AVANTEK.