Question about how to manage 1 USB port!

[OceanicAirlines]

Hello, I just purchased a Dell Studio 1558 with Windows 7 x64 Home Premium.

It's got a USB 3.0 + Firewire + 1394 + HDMI port.

Unfortunately, it only has one singular USB 2.0 port, which is the media that the majority (as in 9 out of 10 of my things is) falls under.

Currently, I'm hooking up a Kensington Universal Docking Station With Ethernet sd120 into it. The ethernet cable, which is truly gigabit-capable, is in the appropriate port, not in that device. However, I have several Western Digital Elements (1TB each) WD10EARS drives that I intermittently like to use for iTunes library purposes and what not.

I also frequently like to have a flash drive for ReadyBoost + plug & play (file moving) purposes.

I feel like I may be fringing on overloading this one port. If it goes, that's simply it; nothing left. Can someone fill me in on what a USB 2.0 port can handle, and, moreover, if it's specific to the motherboard of the notebook (or PC for that matter?)

NOTE: I have a NZXT CRYO-S (LX) notebook cooling fan underneath which, thank god, can go straight to the wall and circumvent the M-M USB connnection. That's beneficial two-fold: I can crank it up to keep it cool w/o worry of power surge + no worry of running it through the docking station.

I tried to include as much detail as possible.

Shoudl I reconsider this arrangement or perhaps look into a product like I'm linking to below?

THANKS, all around, to anyone who can help me here. This was not a cheap piece of equipment.

OceanicAirlines

LINK: Behold the 24-port USB hub!

 

[karlsnooks]

WIN | type DEVMGMT.MSC | ENTER
click on Uinversal Serial Bus controlers |
double-click on USB Root Hub
Power tab
Hub information section will show you total power available per port, typically 500 ma per port.

As you see some bright boy at Microsoft doesn't know that Power = Volts x amps. But what you want to know is that it's 500 milliamps.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

This could do the trick, check to see if the Dell has an express port.
Diablotek EN4732A Notebook Express Card - 2 Port, USB 3.0 at TigerDirect

 

[Bill2]

Drawing too much power to usb devices shouldn't hurt the port, though you'd get malfunctioning devices. As per the USB specification, standard usb ports do have overcurrent protection which means that if the total current drawn by downstream ports exceeds a preset value, the over-current protection circuit removes or reduces power from such ports.