A:AnswerYes, absolutely. It can read up to 4 devices at the same time. This was the only one we found that worked with multiple USB hard drives. It's a great product!
A:AnswerI didn't have any problems at all with the ports being loose. I routinely run my wireless mouse off this hub and it doesn't give me any problems whatsoever. Maybe the hub you have is a one-off and not the norm?
A:AnswerYou can download software from the web, there is a version on the drive depending on what you are going to use it for you can just plug it in and use it as storage