Hey everyone,
 
Quick, probably simple question... Every one of my USB ports is currently in use. I was thinking about getting a 4 port USB2.0 hub for my 2 e-licensors and my mouse and keyboard to free up 3 of those ports. Or maybe even a bigger one like 6 or 7 port. My question is, and I could probably go ask this on a regular computer forum but I like you guys too much so I figured I'd ask here... Is there ANY limitation with using one of these things? Or should I be just totally OK with anything except a harddrive (because I'd imagine in theory the harddrive would be sharing the speed of the port with the other stuff, so it would still work just maybe a little slower). My 2 external harddrives are plugged into my 2 USB3.0 ports anyway, so I think I'll be fine with those. I just want to free up a couple of the USB2.0 ports.
 
Thanks!

You have the right idea by using a hub for simple things like a mouse and the e licencors. 
The thing that you need the most is your audio interface port to be on it's own. 
I also found I could not share a port using a hub for my Keyboard controller and Digital drums, That upset Sonars system of looking for MIDI input devices. I have lots of ports but they are a little far away from those two pieces of equipment so I have this extension cable, I'll have to go buy a couple more.
I just installed this PCIe USB 3 card but it's in the back so kinda hard to get at for my portable drives without an extension cable. 
Which will bring up a question of the whole USB 3 thing, are the cables the same? 

I have used a hub to free up ports and as stated above I moved my mouse, backup external HD and ilok to it and it worked fine.
I was told that your best bet for smooth operation is to be sure and purchase a powered hub, not one that is powered by the PC,s USB port.
 
Mike
 

The passive hubs are fine if the devices using it do not require USB buss power. 
And I have a feeling that if this is on USB 3 that it might no longer be true. I have not  found much info about it and I am curious if someone here knows about USB 3. All I know is it has a lot more juice available than USB 2 did. The USB 3.0 PCIe card I just installed had to be hooked up with a cable to my power supply. 
 
So for USB 2.0 a powered hub will take the strain off your motherboards limited amount of juice but won't change the transfer speed. It might be overkill if just a bunch of passive things like mice and dongles are in it. 
An external hard drive, some have wall warts and some use buss power. A powered hub is not  really needed for the drive with the wall wart, but will help with juice to the buss powered drive. 
 
Things like mice use very little juice but a hard drive uses a lot. So will be interesting to see what USB 3 can do if power was an issue in the past. 

Thanks guys I will definitely stick to the more passive things like mouse/keyboard/dongles...  Sounds like I'll be just fine going with a simple 4 or 6 port USB2.0 port. And to whoever it was that asked about if 3 has the same cable, the port is backwards compatible, same shaped end that goes in the computer, different on the other end. But yea I'll keep my 3.0 ports just for 3.0 things and make sure my interface and midi keyboard are on their own and I should be good to go :-)

Yeah Cactus, the reason for using the powered hub is just to ensure that none of your PC's resources are being used.
I agree that most of the devices moved to the hub are not essential to your recording equipment nor do they draw power from the USB port but for the extra $5 it's worth it just for peace of mind IMO.
Hubs for a DAW are in general, not a good idea but with new laptops only shipping with 3 USB ports, those of us that don't have the extra 2 to 3k to invest in a proper recording lappy have to do what we have to do.
 
I finally got away from laptops to the rig in my sig below.
But for mobile recording I have a laptop with nothing but Sonar on it and my FastTrack pro just to capture the occasional idea that pops up while screwing around with the band.  
 
Mike

I don't think of my mouse or keyboard as passive. They seem vital to me and I want them to have minimal interruption as they access the system. I do use a hub for my e licenses.

I've got three USB dongles on an inexpensive hub.
Works perfectly fine...

I ended up ordering the Amazon 4 port USB2.0 hub. Gonna just use it for my 2 dongles, mouse and keyboard. I'll report back if there's any issues but I'm sure there won't be. It has good reviews and it seems simple enough for my needs, since I won't be hooking in any harddrives or audio equipment.

Too late, but here's another approach: sometimes the MB provides more USB connections than will be terminated on the rear panel or front panel. There would be an unused 9-pin header on the MB. You can get a rear panel adapter that supplies two usb connectors per 9-pin header. E.g. this.