USB 3.0 Interface

The USB 2.0 interface was limited in that it supported data rates up to 480Mb/sec, whereas the USB 3.0 interface supports up to 5Gb/sec, approximately 10 times the speed potential of the older USB 2.0 interface. Newer USB 3.0 flash drives allow users to take advantage of the higher performance potential of the USB 3.0 interface. In addition to being faster, the USB 3.0 interface provides more power for device charging and is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices.

Speed

Is a high performance USB 3.0 drive actually faster than a standard USB 2.0 drive? The short answer – absolutely! Verbatim’s high performance USB 3.0 drives use dual-channel architecture to increase data transfer speeds. Compared to single-channel drives, dual-channel USB 3.0 drives can transfer data up to twice as fast. Single channel drives can only read or write data onto one flash memory IC (Integrated Circuit) at a time. Dual channel drives can read or write data onto two flash memory IC’s at the same time, effectively doubling the data rate.

Compatibility

If you recently bought a new computer, chances are your computer is equipped with one or more USB 3.0 ports. Using a USB 3.0 drive with a USB 3.0 port allows you to take advantage of additional performance the USB 3.0 interface has to offer, while still being compatible with USB 2.0 drives. You can also use your USB 3.0 drives in older USB 2.0 ports, although the performance will be lower. For maximum speed and performance, use your USB 3.0 drive with a USB 3.0 port.

Flash Technology

Beyond dual channel or other architectural approaches to increase speed, higher performing MLC flash IC’s are also employed to further push the performance envelope of ultra-high performance USB 3.0 drives.

MLC flash stores 2 bit per cell, which offers faster reader and writing performance than the typical high density TLC (three bit per cell) or ultra-high density 3D flash (3 bits per cell, vertically stacked in multiple layers) used in most consumer storage products.