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Data Integrity with Desktop External HDD connected to daisy chained Dell Monitor USB hub

I have two Dell U2412M monitors, both of which have USB hubs built into them. I have one of those hubs connected to my MacBook Pro directly, and that hub has a webcam plugged into it.

I want to connect my second monitor's hub to the first monitor's hub (which is connected to my laptop) and then plug in my desktop 3.5" self-powered HDD drive to that second hub.

It would look like this:

Example layout

I am already aware that this would mean I would be sharing bandwidth with all the other devices connected to the hub, but I use my external HDD purely for backup so I would never be using my webcam and HDD simultaneously.

I'm more concerned about data integrity than I am about speed. Would daisy chained monitor usb hubs be reliable enough of a connection to transfer data over to a drive?

Also, side-note: The only tool I could find to determine if these Dell monitors have bus powered or self powered hubs was Microsoft's own USBView (or even the Device Manager) so I checked it via my VM and sure enough it says they are self-powered. I suppose it makes sense but I can't find any official word about that from Dell or elsewhere.