Possible USB port damage using non-powered USB hub?

Referring to the recent discussion on ruining firewire ports with damaged peripherals, a related question concerning the possibility of damage to the USB port:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7948387#7948387
I have an old iPod Shuffle, USB only, and a camera card reader, both of which which get pulled and connected "on the fly" to a bus powered USB hub which is attached to one of the USB ports on the iMac. Am I risking similar damage to the iMac USB port, itself, if something goes bad on the Shuffle or the card reader? Should I be using a POWERED USB hub to avoid direct damage to the iMac USB hub? (And, assuming it will have to be USB 2.0, will it be backwards compatible to USB 1.1?)

No, my belief is that FireWire devices are more prone to damaging the circuitry behind the port due to connecting and disconnecting on-the-fly (compared to USB). There is supporting documentation on the web, for example.
http://www.wiebetech.com/whitepapers/FireWirePortFailures.php
http://lowendmac.com/misc/03/0421.html
(there are many more)
Mechanical failure (wear and tear) through constant plugging and unplugging is a secondary consideration.
If your FireWire device is constantly connected, this issue does not exist (and there is no wear and tear either). On my Intel iMac, my external FireWire drive is always connected, and I use the direct port on the Mac. If I ever need to disconnect it, I shut down my iMac and then disconnect. The other FireWire port is connect to a hub, and that is where I connect and disconnect FireWire devices on-the-fly (old iPod, small bus-powered drive, and video camera).
If your iPod shuffle is the old +thumb drive+ style with the USB plug, you should be using a self-powered hub. That may be why it is not reliable. Also, that plug on the old shuffle is the most likely part to fail, so it is possible that it is getting worn out. I bought a bunch of used and reportedly broken iPod shuffle (the older white type) on eBay to see if I could fix any of them. I would say, 80% of the time, it was broken due to a faulty USB plug (no data connection). On the rare ones broken for another reason, I used that good USB plug to get another shuffle working. (A few worked after using the iPod Reset Utility, without any other repair. )
But I'm getting off topic with the shuffle talk...

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