I just bought a new laptop which has a USB 3.0 port. Does this mean that if I connect to my External Hard Drive via USB, and the external hard drive is older and doesn't have USB 3.0, that I'll still get the speed of USB 3.0 since my computer port is USB 3.0?
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NO! - The USB bus is not the only factor. Many cheap USB 3.1 thumb-drives are no faster than USB2.0 thumb-drives. That is because dirt cheap storage controllers and the cheapest flash-storage available will end up in those cheap and SLOW thumb-drives positioned to catch your eye as you exit stores... USB 3.1 won't magically enchant the slow flash-cells and cheap controllers to perform well enough to saturate the bus... It probably won't affect speed at all with such cheap drives...– svin83Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 23:13
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1 Answer
No - USB 3.0 is backwards compatible and a USB 3.0 port with a USB 2.0 device plugged into it and vice versa would work as a USB 2.0 device at USB 2.0 speeds.
USB 3.0 has an additional 5 connectors to enable the extra speed so a USB 2.0 device will be unable to take advantage of it
answered Jan 1, 2012 at 2:51
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Also note that plugging in USB 2.0 devices won't drop USB 3.0 devices down to USB 2.0 speeds, unlike when you plug in a USB 1.1 device into USB 2.0.– surfasbCommented Jan 1, 2012 at 9:25
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Assuming you use a hub, or would it drop everything on that system down to 1.1 speed?– Journeyman Geek ♦Commented Jan 1, 2012 at 10:40
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It's per controller. Most systems I've seen have two controllers. A hub just extends the controller.– surfasbCommented Jan 1, 2012 at 11:06