Protecting mechanical damage of USB connector by USB hub ?

[Puppy]

I'm thinking of two ports hub without external power for ThinkPad R51. Local store has this model (ATEN UH-102) http://www.aten.com/products/productIte ... 5162425005 only. Are there any experiences with it ?

My reason for the hub is that I frequently plug/unplug USB Flash disks and the USB connector in my notebook does not seem to be rock solid (damaging the connector means replacing the motherboard) so I'd like to use the hub mainly for this purpose.

I know could also use A-A USB cable but I haven't found one shorter than one meter. Or is there other kind of "USB adapter" I could use ?

Thanks.

[DavidNZ]

I think your rationale for using a hub rather than the computer's USB connectors is sound, but maybe consider getting power hubs so you can plug in devices that require a bit more power than what the computer itself can throw out. Just a thought.

[Puppy]

Got USBHB3242 model with optional external power supply:
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... _qdr%3Dall
http://www.jol-ltd.com/cables/Cables_In ... Hubs&ID=18