Hi Martin, I don't quite understand what you've said. I'll quote what I need clarifying. >I think maybe the pc is protecting your pen drive. the usb ports on the keyboard are only meant for low >power aps such as mp3 players etc. Does this mean that mp3 players are low power aps and pen drives and memory card readers are high powered? I don't know much about all this as you can tell. >your drives is a high powerr item, and needs direct feed, rather than the third party feed from your >keyboard. Oh, i didn't understand that but, now I'm getting it. So, pen drives and mem card readers normally don't like third party hubs? Where as low power things do? I'd love to do a google search to learn more about this but, hmmm... what do I put in the search term. Unless anyone posts on computer tech forums and can recommend a good one for me to look at? Thanks for your help martin. it's starting to make sense. Justin