Nonetheless, you can find affordable USB 3.0 products if you do not mind settling for less durability.Īs expensive as USB 3.0 sounds, it can transfer documents of large size in less time, which can be extremely beneficial. On average, it can cost about 40 to 50 dollars. USB 3.0 can be a little expensive, especially if you want a drive with the fastest transfer rate. You will find USB 2.0 for as low as ten dollars on Amazon or other e-commerce websites. So, if you want to pick a cheaper USB drive, you can choose the USB 2.0. USB 2.0 costs very less when compared to USB 3.0 as the former offers fewer features. Alternatively, you can look it up on forums or blogs to get a better insight into the speed of the particular drive you want to purchase. It is better to set your own benchmarks and test the speed yourself since the manufacturer’s quote may not always be true. You can test the speed using several tools online. However, the number is a theoretical reference as the transfer speed depends on the specific drive.įor instance, the data transfer rate is limited to the speed of the flash memory. SpeedĪs mentioned earlier, USB 3.0 is ten times faster than 2.0. So, when you want to distinguish the two, you can look at the USB port color inside. The USB 3.0 connectors are colored blue inside, while 2.0 connectors are black or white. However, there are many differences in terms of designs. USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 look very similar to one another. It also adds to the many advantageous features of 3.0, making it more popular than the USB 2.0. The additional five wires increase the bandwidth of 3.0 when compared to 2.0. USB 3.0 has a total of nine connector wires, while 2.0 only has four. At the same time, you can connect USB 3.0 to 2.0 ports, but it will have a slower transfer rate than the USB 2.0 port. So, you can connect USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 ports. USB 3.0 ports are backward-compatible while 2.0 is not.
On the other hand, USB 3.0 can do both simultaneously since it uses separate unidirectional paths for each function. Therefore, you can either send or receive data at once. USB 2.0 uses a one-way communication path which means the received and sent data uses the same pathway. It can also convert power when you disconnect it from the flash drive when you are not using it. Hence, USB 3.0 can deliver more power when required. USB 2.0 can provide 500 mA current while 3.0 can provide 900 mA current. Further, the recent version of USB 3.1 offers a 10,000 Mbps data transfer rate. It makes USB 3.0 about ten times faster than the former. USB 2.0 has a maximum transfer speed of 480 Mbps, whereas 3.0 has 4,800 Mbps. This section will compare the two comprehensively to help you make a better judgment. That makes it quite harder to see which is better for you. However, the data transfer speed will be 2.0 levels when you connect USB 3.0 to the 2.0 port. So, it is safe to say that 3.0 is better than 2.0 in many ways. Further, it provides backward compatibility that 2.0 does not. As you can see in the specifications above, USB 3.0 offers a superior speed to USB 2.0.
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