Difference Between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0

What is USB?

A Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a communication interface that allows devices to communicate with a host controller such as a computer system. It links peripheral devices including digital cameras, mice, keyboards, scanners, printers, media players, flash drives, and external hard drives to a computer.

A USB may be used for a multitude of things, including providing electrical power, which is why the USB has replaced an array of interfaces like the parallel and serial ports.

USB ports are used to connect peripheral devices to computers in a variety of ways.

USB 1.x

It is an external bus standard that supports up to 127 peripheral devices and can transport data at a rate reaching up to 12 Megabits per second.

USB 2.0

It is often referred to as high-speed USB. It was first announced in the year 2000. It's a newer version of USB 1.1 that offers more features and faster performance. It can transport data at a maximum rate of 480 Megabits per second. However, practically it is approximately 280 Mbps.

USB 3.0

Commonly known as SuperSpeed USB, it was introduced in November 2009. It's a much-enhanced version of USB 2.0. It provides a data transmission rate of 5 Gigabits per second, which is significantly higher than USB 2.0's capability. USB 3.0 is backward compatible, so it can integrate with previous versions of USB without any problem.

USB 3.1

Commonly known as SuperSpeed+, it was first released in 2013. It is approximately two times quicker than the USB 3.0 and can easily send the data at rates reaching up to 10 Gigabits per second.

Difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0

The most common USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports are found in computer systems and laptops. The following table highlights the major differences between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

USB 2.0	USB 3.0
USB 2.0 has a data transmission rate of 480 Mbps.	USB 3.0 has a data transmission rate of 4800 Mbps.
There are four cables in USB 2.0.	USB 3.0, on the other hand, contains nine cables.
USB 2.0 is a one-way interface, which means it can handle data flow only in one direction at a time.	USB 3.0 is a two-way communication standard, which means it uses two data paths, one to transmit data and the other to receive data.
USB 2.0 is a less expensive option.	It is, however, more expensive than USB 2.0.
The average length of a USB 2.0 cable can be up to five meters.	The length of a USB 3.0 cable can be up to three meters.
USB 2.0 provides 500 milliamps of electricity.	It delivers a 900 mA of power.
The ports of USB 2.0 are black or white in color.	The ports of USB 3.0 are blue.

Conclusion

To conclude, USB 3.0, being an advanced version, is almost 10 times faster than USB 2.0. USB 2.0 has four connector wires, whereas USB 3.0 has nine, which increases the speed and bandwidth. USB 3.0 charges faster and it can easily support devices that require more power to operate.