TP-LINK TL-PS310U Single USB2.0 port MFP Print and Storage server, supports 4-port USB hub extension, Firmware upgradable

I love this thing! With Microsoft discontinuing the support for XP, I thought I had to decide if I wanted to get a new desktop (mine was bought refurbished in 2005), buy a wireless printer/scanner, or just take my laptop into the office anytime I wanted to do something more than surf the web. So my options were "expensive", "less expensive", and "bothersome." I bought this device after going to my local computer hardware store and explaining my problem. The guy told me I would need four on these because I have two printers, an external hard drive, and a scanner. They only had one in stock. I got bought it thinking I would test it out before getting three more. I got home and connected my external hard drive. It was very quick and easy and the quick start guide was dead on. I tested it and it worked wonderfully. The speed was the same and when I used my desktop to make the drive wireless to my laptop. I quickly went on Amazon and bought another, planning on buying two more at a later date. After I made my purchase, I was reading the box and saw one tiny sentence about sharing 4 devices through a USB hub. ??? Well I broke out an old hub I had in storage and within minutes, all four of my devices were connected wirelessly (is that even a word?) to my laptop. I connected to all four devices at the same time and tested them all. Worked wonderfully!!! There is some lag time, but nothing that will annoy me. Especially for the price! I decide not to cancel the one I had just ordered because it's always good to have a back-up for a few years down the road when it goes dead but all of my devices are still charging on. :-DMy devices: HP deskjet 990cse, Canon Pixima iP100, DP Scanjet G4010, Seagate freeagent drive.My laptop is a three year old Gateway with Windows 7.

Able to install product but it doesn't work as advertised. TP-Link notes that all my hardware and operating system are supposed to be compatible. However, the TP-Link software does not properly connect my PCs to the print server in an automated fashion. Works fine if you manually connect and disconnect but that is a pain and fraught with potential problems if someone forgets to disconnect. TP_Link tech support was worthlessGlad it worked for others

My home network has Ethernet connected to a Linksys E3000 router which provides plenty of download speed via my Arris cable modem. Within my Ethernet netowork, communications were certified at 1000 mbps which works when the attached device is capable of that speed. I'd been using my older Cannon MP600 multifunction printer via USB since I got it. A recent upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium seems to have messed up my ability to share this printer with my wife whose computer still runs Windows Vista Business, and I needed a printer occasionally for the Windows XP systems in my basement dungeon where old computers never die. I used to be "up to speed" on networking because I was a corporate outside consultant helping systems folks with Lotus Notes/Domino software from IBM before I retired. This is by way of background on my skill set and environment.This little unit seemed to be just what I needed on the spare Ethernet port in my home office. I bought the one capable of sharing storage devices because occasionally I like to be able to take things with me on USB storage, or hang my 1TB WD drive somewhere other than attached to my Linksys E3000 for maintenance of the permission structure that gets created when Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP all try to write to it and clutter up NTFS files with locks which get in my way as the administrator of my little network. I had read reviews of the cheaper Ethernet dongles offered on Amazon and decided having an upgradable BIOS on the device seemed like a good idea. It WAS! The TL-PS310U ships with obsolete software and BIOS configurations, so it turns out that the first thing you must do is upgrade both. Do not waste your time installing software from the mini-CD that comes with it. If you don't have a good reliable connection to the internet, you will need one before you can fully use the device.The first thing to do is find the main TP-Link website via your search engine. Watch out for promoted sites! Their download page for this device holds newer Zipped software for upgrading the BIOS on the device and a newer version of the software. You will need to first upgrade the bios, then install the software. What I did was to hang the device on my network, power it up, execute the zipped upgrade utility over the internet using Windows 7 Home Premium (X64) e latest Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 which runs on my main workstation. The software found the device and flashed the bios for me. This may have occurred because I'd installed the obsolete software for it from the CD, but my system puked on the install because the software came up in Japaneese and that triggered an intervention by my virus protection. Then I ran the install from the web for the support software on all the computers on my network, one at a time. each install was a little different, Win 7, Win Vista, and Win XP, but the same support software on each computer. When that was done I was able to "see" the TP-LInk and the Cannon MP600 installed on it from each of my systems. I was not happy with the 30 second default time out in the software support for the device because I typically do not compete with anyone for access to the print server, so I set it up so that when I start a given system and the printer is powered on, I can find it using the support software and enable a virtual USB port that persists for that printer on the system I'm using. If this gets to be a bother, a New printer with sharing support built in might be a better option, but It saved my old but still quite functional Cannon MP600. The appearance of inexpensive yet reliable "clone" ink cartridges for this printer had a lot to do with my decision not to scrap it instead. One thing which made life easy for me is that the Cannon MP600 had been hung at one time or another on all of my computers, so the drivers needed for the printer itself were already in place and only needed to be re-enabled to use it on the virtual USB port that the support software creates and manages for you.If you don't fully understand my discussion of this item, you might want to read other commentaries and/or find something else to solve your problem.

Maybe my expectations were too high... It does work but it was not plug and play. Issue 1, Discovered I had to be ethernet connected to my router to go through setup (tried it wireless and wouldn't see the printer). Once I was connected via cable I was able to go through setup). Issue 2, The "Quick Installation Guide" is written so small you can't see the writing on their screen examples...but after getting a magnifying glass, discovered the menu selections in the guide did not match my screen anyway. I could do what I needed to do but they were not close to matching. Issue 3, the guide insinuates that you "could" disable the disconnect printer when idle option which I did. Then I switched to wireless and could not print. It would not allow me to "send a break request" and connect device using wireless. I had to reconnect the cable, disconnect the device, go back to wireless then connect the device. So, moral of the story, perhaps the disconnect when idle option is the way to go in a shared environment. But what a pain to have to Connect Device every time you want to print. I suppose when I get the options all set after trial and error, we'll all be able to connect and print but I think I need to install the software on every computer in my home network. Based on all the feedback I read prior to purchase, plug it in and away it goes...Not so much. Plan on a couple of hours or trial and error (my experience anyway). Still an OK product, I like it but it's not quite the silver bullet I was looking for.