Product: DuoConnect Company: Adaptec Website: http://www.adaptec.com Estimated Street Price: 115.99$ Review By: Julien Jay

Adaptec USBControl

   This small Adaptec utility isn’t bundled with the DuoConnect but it can be downloaded free of charge from Adaptec’s website. The purpose of Adaptec USBControl is to display the exact number of USB devices connected to your computer and their nature. When you start USBControl a compact window will appear listing all the USB devices plugged to the PC (including those which are connected to the native USB controller of your PC). Near each USB device entry there’s an icon representing its nature (mouse, game controllers, hard disk, modem, camera, etc.), the number (or letter) of the port/hub the device is connected to, as well as a green icon that blinks each time the USB device sends data to the computer. With this neat feature you know when the USB hard disk is in use so you don’t have to crawl under your desk to see it! Not only can you  customize the compact view to display information about only one device but you can also change the icon assigned to a USB device.  

Adaptec USBControl Small View

Advanced users will appreciate the expert view; USBControl can display a diagram of your current configuration representing your computer, its USB controllers, the hubs connected to it and the devices connected. With this view you instantly see how many USB ports are free or in use. Through the software you can rename the name of each USB device, that way your Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer can be renamed in Wireless Mouse. USBControl can be set to start at each Windows boot and can be minimized in the tray for convenience purposes.

Adaptec USBControl (click to enlarge)

Tests

During our tests of the Adaptec DuoConnect we didn’t encounter any problems with the card or Adaptec’s drivers. Under Windows 98SE, Windows Me, and Windows 2000 SP2, Adaptec’s USB 2.0 drivers worked like a charm and let us use Yamaha and Iomega USB 2.0 burners at their full speed. USB 1.1 burners were only able to record CDs at the maximal speed of 4x while USB 2.0 burners can reach recording speed of 16x, saving a huge amount of time.  

The FireWire part of the DuoConnect performed great too. USB 2.0 and FireWire devices plugged into the DuoConnect can be used at the same time. We tested the card with various units like Iomega ZIP 250 FireWire, Epson Perfection 2450 Photo FireWire Scanner, Iomega Peerless FireWire, Iomega Predator FireWire and Maxtor 40GB External HD which worked just as expected. Our camcorder, a JVC GR-DVL9800e was perfectly recognized by the card and we were able to capture and output digital video using Pinnacle Systems Studio 7.0 or Adobe Premiere 6.0 software.

Roxio Easy CD-Creator 5 Dialog Box Showing Yamaha CRW-70 USB2 Burner and Its Ability to Burn in 12x (click to enlarge)

Software

The Adaptec DuoConnect comes bundled with the well known MGI VideoWave 4 SE software for editing your digital video; and Sonic MyDVD 3 for creating DVD, VideoCD or DVD-on-CD discs. Both of these software are interesting and powerful, yet at the same time easy to use. They were conceived for new byes that want to capture, mount, and output videos painlessly, in a few mouse clicks.