I gave up on USB and converted all my systems to e-SATA
the only USB connections I have now are for
Card readers
thumb/flash drives
scanners / printers

and normal external "disks" are connected by e-SATA ports
even my portable audio editing unit has a 2-port PCMCIA e-SATA card
and a pair of 500GB 2.5" "disks" in an e-SATA box that travels with the unit
(my next unit will have an express card slot)

USB is fine for the average user who might drop a few photos, docs, mp3 tracks, etc. on to it at any given time

but USB is not good for transferring multiple GB's of data