subject: What Is High-speed Usb 3.0 ? [print this page] USB ports for connecting computers and peripheral equipment are essential. For years it was the USB 2.0 standard that was the norm. But now, the standard to be followed is the new SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0). This promises faster data transfers and optimum performance.
When the chip manufacturer Intel in 1996 introduced the first universal serial bus (USB 1.0) in the market, its aim was to replace the many different ports of the PC with a standard port. After several initial difficulties, and only after the introduction of the USB 2.0 standard in 2000, the proposed single standard became a reality. Be it mass storage devices, printers, monitors, mouse or digicams, there are now almost no peripheral devices without USB ports. It is only with devices older than that which you have to use USB adapters for. You can even get network connections via a USB Network Adapter these days.
Since modern applications and devices demand increasing data transfer speeds than the USB 2.0 standard can accommodate, a faster successor was developed-SuperSpeed USB or USB 3.0!
Data at top speed
The introduction of the SuperSpeed standard actually thrust forward a new performance dimension in terms of speed. HP, Microsoft and Intel, are all trying to develop the high-speed USB ports involved.
The use of flash drives or external hard drives is definitely not a real alternative to an uninhibited exchange of data. Hitherto data from an external HD was transferred at the rate of 35 MB/s via USB 2.0. USB 3.0 provides for a data storage speed of 120 MB/s. In practice this means that copying a large video of 25 GB (2 hours duration) in HD quality, will take only about 4 minutes, whereas it used to take about 14 minutes earlier.
Because of the enormous amount of data exchange the use of high resolution webcams, Blu-ray drives, digital video and still cameras will be much more comfortable. With USB 3.0, these devices can synchronize data in a short time and will work much more efficiently.
Further performance progress
The advantage of the new SuperSpeed USB is not only its high speed of data transmission; the power efficiency of peripherals is significantly improved. Via the new bus, the connected devices will effectively utilize 80% more energy than by using a USB 2.0 port. There are 150 mA current now available. In addition, 900 mA can be made on request - a big plus for charging portable devices.
Simultaneously, the USB 3.0 standard itself is much more energy efficient than previous versions. For example, it provides rest and wait modes and the new energy manager and job functions to devices for lower power consumption. It drops the device supply voltage from 4.4 V to 4 V.
Internal values
The most important advantage: old USB devices can be used without problems and loss of speed as USB 3.0 is fully backward compatible. You wont need any special USB adapters. The opposite is also possible; you can create new 3.0 - devices using the old 2.0-or 1.0/1.1-hosts. One exception is the B-Mini B, Micro B and Mini-A connectors. USB Adapters are needed for the old plugs can fit in the new buses but the new plug cannot be used in the old buses.
Yet there is no significant gap in the technology of USB 3.0 in terms of internal cables and plugs, and that of the USB 2.0 standard. The SuperSpeed USB technology closely matches that of the "PCI Express 2.0" or "SerialATA". Here, a full-duplex transmission via differentialparen, separated from the non-SuperSpeed differentialpaar (USB 2.0).
In other words, the USB 3.0 cable has two wires for power and grounding and two for non-high-speed data. Moreover, there are four wires (two each for sending and receiving) and a shielding wire to avoid harmful interference is also fitted. It is therefore not surprising that the (usually blue) USB 3.0 cables are much thicker than those of their predecessor.
Apart from the minor restriction that only cable lengths of up to 3 meters for a data transfer in SuperSpeed mode is suitable, the success of USB 3.0 is fairly assured. Because the benefits to users and developers are clear and it gives you unprecedented opportunities.
