The problem with powered USB hubs is that they aren't all equal. I've got a drawer full of "less than adequate" ones. I suppose I should bin them.
My external USB drives are all "powered". Some of those are better than others, too. I tried a couple of eSATAs, but they played very badly and were relegated to being USB.
The right answer is the old (XP) PC up in the attic, networked and used only for backups.