Universal Serial Bus (USB) 3.0

USB 3.0 is the next version of the USB 2.0, the main feature of this version is speed. It is faster than its predecessor by 10x. Also it provides full duplex transmission mode. And it is greener in terms of power usage.

Difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 :-

      Physical Difference:

USB 3.0 port also has “SS” mentioned on it, it is of blue color. Also the wires are bit thicker. The regular 2.0 connectors are usually grey in color.

      Wires:

USB 2.0                                                      USB 3.0

4 Pins within the wire.

9 pins within the wire.

  Transmission speed:

USB 2.0 has data transfer rate upto 480 Mbps. Whereas the USB 3.0 has 4.8 Gbps of transfer rate. This is almost 10 times faster than the 2.0.

       Transmission mode:

USB 2.0 can either send or receive the data (Half duplex).

USB 3.0 can perform both sending and receiving data simultaneously (Full duplex).

       Backward compatibility:

USB 3.0 devices are backward compatible, means they can be used with the standard USB 2.0 product, but the benefit of speed, bandwidth will not be up to the mark as expected from the standard USB 3.0 port.

        Power:

USB 2.0 uses upto 500 mA power.

USB 3.0 uses upto 900 mA powers. But is more efficient.

USB 3.0 is much more power “aware”, as it controls the power of the devices, like when the device needs maximum throughput it will provide full power, but it will use less power when the device is only connected i.e. is in idle state. Also it can power more devices from the single hub.