USB 3.0 is the latest USB standard, offering data transfer rates up to 5.0 Gbit/s. It is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and used for transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. USB 3.0 can significantly reduce backup times and improve productivity. It achieves high transfer speeds by using four extra strands in the data cable and supports full-duplex communication.
Universal Serial Bus (USB) 3.0 is the latest specification of the USB standard, introduced in August 2008 by a partnership of developers led by Intel. The protocol allows for data transfer rates of up to 5.0 gigabits per second (Gbit/s) or 625 megabytes per second (MB/s), approximately ten times faster than USB 2.0.
USB 1.0 technology was introduced in 1996 and has gone through several iterations, improving transfer speeds with each new standard. To date, the standards are as follows:
USB 1.0 Low Speed 1.5 Mbit/s
USB 1.1 Full Speed 12 Mbit/s (1.5 MB/s)
USB 2.0 High Speed 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s)
UBS 3.0 SuperSpeed 5.0 Gbit/s (625 MB/s)
Human interface devices, such as keyboards and mice, require low bandwidth and can work with USB 1.0, while later protocols are used for data transfer between computers and peripheral devices such as external hard drives, printers, scanners, fax machines and backup drives. Digital cameras, cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and game consoles are among the plethora of other electronic devices that also use USB.
With increased demands for transferring larger files at faster speeds, USB 3.0 has been promised to be a welcome improvement over 2.0 technology, and USB may not be a bottleneck for data transfer. Internal hard drives could catch up until “SATA 6 Gb/s” (the next generation SATA with 6 gigabits per second transfer speeds) and solid state drives catch on. Meanwhile, SATA drives with maximum data transfer rates of 300MB/s (3Gb/s) will only be half the speed of USB 3.0, assuming it matures to its full theoretical potential.
With homeowners also pushing the 1 terrabyte limit and many at home and work using external drives for full drive backups, faster transfer speeds are important. External enclosures using USB 3.0 would significantly reduce backup times, improving productivity and efficiency. Transferring graphics content from digital film and camera flash cards is another area where the average person could see a drastic improvement with improved technology.
USB 3.0 achieves its high transfer speeds by using four extra strands in the data cable, for a total of six strands. It supports full-duplex communication or the ability to send and receive data simultaneously and is energy efficient. Most importantly, it is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices, although to achieve 3.0 speeds you must use a 3.0 compatible device and cable.
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