About USB 3.0 Super Speed

Long ago, we got USB 1.1, then now we got USB 2.0 and the next we will get the USB 3.0. What is USB 3.0? and how fast is USB 3.0 SuperSpeed actually? what's the difference between them? Now, we will know it. All about USB 3.0. But, first we need to know the history of the USB(Universal Serial Bus).

The History of the Universal Serial Bus (USB)

The specification of the USB standard was started by 7 companies back in 1994: Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC and Nortel. They wanted it to be easier to connect devices to PC’s and agreed that the industry need a common standard. There have been multple releases of the standard over the years, but I will focus my review on the 3 most common used:

- USB 1.1 Full-speed (1998)
- USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (2000)
- USB 3.0 SuperSpeed (2008)

You might think that USB 3.0 is kind of old since the standard was completed already back in 2008, but according to Wikipedia the first devices for USB 3.0 was presented in January 2010 and just like with USB 2.0 it took a while before supported devices was available for consumers.

How fast is USB 3.0 SuperSpeed?

According to the specification this is the maximum speed of the different versions of USB.

USB 1.1 Full-speed - (12 Mbit/s or 1.8 MB/s)
USB 2.0 Hi-speed – (480 Mbit/s, or 60 MB/s),
USB 3.0 Superspeed – (5 Gbit/s or 625 MB/s)

is USB 3.0 it really that fast in practice?

Actually no. You are not going to copy files to an USB stick with 625 MB/s. The first reason is that the disk you would be copying from is most likely not able to read the data that quick and your USB stick is properly not able to write the data with that speed either. If you think about it you have properly never seen a USB 2.0 device being even close to a transfer of 60 MB/s.

USB 3.0 is not as fast as the specification. It might let you think, but it is for sure a lot faster than USB 2.0 and you have something to keep in mind when buying new devices or a new motherboard. Just look after your friend that have bought it and try it yourself. This is the general transfer rate of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 :

USB 2.0 HiSpeed – 28 MB/sec.
USB 3.0 SuperSpeed – 76 MB/sec

That's it about the USB 3.0 super speed. Next, you may be interest with our previous article about how to make USB Power Injector Modem. Just feel free to ask us if you have some question, just contact or comment below :)