USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Difference

Created in 1996, the Universal Serial Bus or USB quickly became the preferred technology for computer peripherals. With the introduction of USB 2.0 in April 2000, computer users rejoiced that their “go to” technology had become even faster and easier to use. And now with USB 3.0 products becoming more prevalent, consumers are excited to see what enhancements have been made to the tried and true technology. Here’s what you need to know about how USB 3.0 is different from USB 2.0, and why it matters.
Backward Compatible: Backward compatibility is whether the technology is compatible with backwards platforms. Example: USB 3.0 is compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1. This means that you can plug a USB 3.0 flash drive into a USB 2.0 port, but the transfer speeds will be limited by 2.0 specifications.
Maximum Transfer Rate: Exactly how fast can the spec transfer data? The higher the number, the bigger and more files you can transfer per minute.
Bi-Directional Data Transfer: Bi-directional data transfer is new to USB 3.0 and allows a user to simultaneously upload and download files from a USB 3.0 device. USB 2.0 devices can only transfer files one way at any given moment.
Charging Power: Charging power refers to the amount of power that is transferred through a cable or port to charge a particular device. Devices that crave a lot of power such as an iPad benefit more from the increased power in USB 3.0 than 2.0. More power usually means faster charging rates.
Smart Charging: Smart Charging refers to if the USB protocol can sense if a device is plugged into the USB device or not. Standard USB 2.0 cannot detect when a device is plugged in, but will supply power to the port continuously. USB 3.0 on the other hand does have the protocol and will actually stop supplying power to a particular USB drive or port when not in use.

USB 2.0: The Universal Serial Bus is the most widely deployed PC peripheral interface in history, enabling simple plug and play connectivity for a wide variety of devices to enhance the computing experience. As PC’s and peripheral devices have added more processing bandwidth, performance and features, the USB 2.0 standard was developed to offer a complimentary high-speed transfer rate at 480Mb/s. Backwards compatible with the full speed and low speed transfer rates of USB 1.1, USB 2.0 delivers a significant bandwidth increase while maintaining the value added features that motivated the original USB development.

Super Speed USB 3.0 As technology innovation marches forward, new kinds of devices, media formats, and large inexpensive storage are converging. They require significantly more bus bandwidth to maintain the interactive experience users have come to expect. In addition, user applications demand a higher performance connection between the PC and these increasingly sophisticated peripherals. USB 3.0 addresses this need by adding an even higher transfer rate to match these new usage and devices. USB continues to be the answer to conncectivity for PC, Consumer Electronics, and Mobile architectures, It is a fast, bidirectional, low-cost, dynamically attachable interface that is consistent with the requirements of the PC platforms of today and tomorrow. SuperSpeed USB brings significant performance enhancements to the ubiquitous USB standard, while remaining compatible with the billions of USB enabled devices currently deployed in the market. SuperSpeed USB will deliver 10x the data transfer rate of Hi-Speed USB, as well as improved power efficiency. • SuperSpeed USB has a 5 Gbps signaling rate offering 10x performance increase over Hi-Speed USB. • SuperSpeed USB is a Sync-N-Go technology that minimizes user wait-time. • SuperSpeed USB will provide Optimized Power Efficiency.No device polling and lower active and idle power requirements.