My TV's underpowered USB port was driving me crazy until I discovered this simple fix

Published Oct 30, 2026, 3:01 PM EDT Dhruv Bhutani has been writing about consumer technology since 2008, offering deep insights into the personal technology landscape through features and opinion pieces. He writes for XDA-Developers, where he focuses on topics like productivity, networking, self-hosting, and more. Over the years, his work has also appeared in leading publications such as Android Police, Android Authority, CNET, PCMag, and more. Outside of his professional work, Dhruv is an avid fan of horror media spanning films and literature, enjoys fitness activities, collects vinyl records, and plays the guitar. TVs aren't exactly cutting-edge, and they rarely have inputs that can keep up with the latest, power-hungry peripherals. Most of the time, they don't even have enough power to run everything I plug into them. I've run into this problem often when plugging in a large hard drive that needs far more power than the TV can deliver. The TV might power on the accessory but drop the connection as power requirements increase. A powered USB hub offers a straightforward solution. Instead of relying on the TV to supply all the power, I can use a hub with its own power adapter. That way, connected accessories get a separate power source while the USB port handles data. It's that simple and can save you hours of troubleshooting. Why your TV's USB port struggles to power external hard drives A TV's USB port isn't designed for every accessory First, you need to understand that not all USB ports are created equal. A port on a television might be perfectly fine for playing back files from a flash drive, but it can't supply enough power to every accessory. These ports, especially on televisions, are designed for simpler use cases, and their power output rarely meets the latest standards. This is a big problem when you connect something like an external hard drive to your TV. Let's say you want to play back your ripped Blu-ray 4K collection on your big-screen TV. Depending on your setup, plugging in your hard drive is often the best approach. However, you might observe that the device starts to fail, disconnects unexpectedly, or doesn't work reliably. In some cases, the TV might recognize the accessory before it disappears. Mechanical drives draw a fair amount of power when spinning up, and a TV's USB port often struggles to meet that demand. The result is an unreliable connection with all the signs I talked about above. A powered USB hub addresses this limitation by bringing its own power adapter into the setup. I have to connect the hub to a compatible USB port on the TV, plug its power adapter into a wall outlet, and connect my accessories to the hub. The external power supply handles the power requirements of compatible connected devices instead of making them depend entirely on the TV's USB output. This is different from using a regular USB hub. A standard USB hub has no power input and can't boost power to connected accessories. Instead, it pulls power from the host device, in this case, the TV, and shares it with connected accessories. If the TV is already struggling to power a single device, adding an unpowered hub can make things worse. A powered hub solves this. Check compatibility first Source: Voli/MakerWorld The same principle applies if you want to connect multiple USB accessories simultaneously. Modern TVs usually provide a single USB 3.0 port. Using the single port for a hard drive leaves fewer options for other devices. For example, you might want to connect a keyboard or another hard drive. A powered hub can add ports, making it easier to organize your setup. However, don't assume every accessory will work just because the hub has extra ports. The television still needs to support the device, while the hub handles the power. TV platforms are inherently limited, so just because you can plug in the device doesn't mean it'll work. In fact, the same limitations extend to hard drives and flash drives too. Keep the drive's file system in mind, because the TV might not support it out of the box. Also, a powered hub isn't the right fix for every use case. If you're trying to power up a streaming stick that connects over HDMI, a powered hub isn't what you need. Instead, pair the streaming stick with a standard wall-powered adapter. A powered USB hub is the easiest fix for an underpowered TV port The fact is that a TV's USB port doesn't have to be powerful enough for every accessory I want to connect to it. Nor do I need to take the television in for troubleshooting because one device won't work as it should. A powered USB hub can provide the extra power compatible accessories need while giving you more USB connections. The important part is identifying the actual problem before buying anything. If an accessory is struggling because the TV's USB port can't supply enough power, a powered hub is a simple solution worth considering. If the television doesn't support the accessory or the way it's connected, though, adding a hub won't magically fix it. Regardless, if USB disconnections are the problem you're facing, this is the first fix I'd recommend. Sabrent 4-port USB Hub (HB-UM43)