Understanding why a truly universal bootable USB flash drive cannot exist, even though millions of people keep searching for one.

People search for a universal bootable USB flash drive because the idea sounds so simple: one USB stick you plug into any computer, and everything just starts. Windows, Mac, Linux, old laptops, new desktops — one drive to boot them all. If millions of people keep looking for it, surely it must exist, right?

But the truth is more like walking into a hardware store and asking for one key that unlocks every house on Earth. Not because the idea is silly, but because every house is built differently. Some have old metal locks, some have smart deadbolts with keypads, some slide, some latch, some spin, and some are designed never to open unless the owner approves it. The problem isn’t the key. The problem is the doors.

A universal bootable USB flash drives drive runs into the exact same issue.

People imagine a USB stick as a magic power switch — plug it into any machine and the computer should wake up and run from it. But computers don’t share a single design. They’re more like different types of vehicles. A Ford pickup, a Tesla, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and a jet ski all have engines, but you can’t fire them up with the same ignition key. You wouldn’t expect the same engine to fit in all of them either.

ASRock’s X870 LiveMixer WiFi puts USB connectivity first with twenty-five total ports for creators, gamers, and power users.

Most boards today give you a few decent USB connections and expect you to figure out the rest with hubs and adapters. That’s fine for casual setups, but chances are if you’re running external drives, cameras, audio gear, or other devices, you’ll run out of ports fast. The ASRock X870 LiveMixer WiFi flips that script. This board comes with twenty-five USB ports in total, which is way more than you’ll see on a typical motherboard.

Rear panel options

The first thing to understand is that the back panel is stacked. You get sixteen ports right out of the box, and two of those are USB4 Type-C. Those are your heavy hitters: up to 40 Gbps transfers, plus display output if the CPU supports it. That kind of bandwidth makes external SSDs or capture gear run like they should.

You also get another Type-C rated for USB 3.2 Gen1 speeds and about seven Type-A ports in that same Gen1 class. That’s plenty fast for most peripherals — webcams, audio interfaces, or storage that doesn’t need crazy speed. Then there’s the legacy support: six USB 2.0 ports still hanging around. They’re slow at 480 Mbps, sure, but perfect for things like keyboards, mice, dongles, or older hardware that doesn’t benefit from more bandwidth.

Internal headers and front access

Add another nine ports through the internal headers and you hit the big twenty-five.

It is common to hear Raspberry Pi owners want more USB ports. GetUSB.info just read about them introducing an official 4 port USB hub. Sweet. To note, most Raspberry Pi single-board computers, except for the Raspberry Pi Zero and A+ models, include a built-in USB hub that splits one USB connection into several USB Type-A ports. Just recently they launched the official Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub, a high-quality USB 3.0 hub that offers four additional USB ports.

This hub includes a single upstream USB 3.0 Type-A connector with an 3 inches (8 cm) built-in cable. The “upstream” port is the socket used to communicate with the host device, which in this case is the Raspberry Pi. It also has four downstream USB 3.0 Type-A ports and can reach data transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps. There’s a USB-C socket for an optional external 3A power supply but that isn’t included with the $12 purchase. Quick note, the downstream port is are the sockets used to communicate with the devices, like a USB flash drive, hard drive, mouse, keyboard, printer, etc.

One driving force on why Raspberry Pi wanted to sponsor their own USB hub is the fact most ‘other’ hubs are just too expensive. One fundamental goal of Raspberry Pi is to provide an unparalleled offering for computer code development and the lowest possible price. Usually, you either pay a high price for a reliable, well-designed product, or you buy a cheaper option that’s unreliable, doesn’t work with various devices, or simply looks bad.

With this hub, there is no “race to the bottom,” where cheap, poor-quality products pushed out better options, and online marketplaces like Amazon became filled with low-quality hubs. To offer a better solution the Raspberry team got together with with Infineon to source a quality hub chip called the CYUSB3304.

Based on user beta testers and user comments here are the pros and cons of the Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub: