Back in Context: USB 3.0

8:01 AM article , bic , sandisk 0 Comments

*This article is written with information provided by SanDisk*

     For the past few years, I have used a bunch of different USB 3.0 devices which includes flash drives, external hard drives, drive enclosures etc. From what I understood in the past, USB 3.0 is a standard for faster USB devices and most of the time, the corresponding ports are coloured blue as far as I'm concerned. That was, until the good people over at SanDisk sent me a pretty cool infographic which led me to do some research on my own as well.

     Looking at the infographic above, everything is put in an easy to understand manner. The first part basically tells you the difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. According to USB standards, USB 2.0 has a throughput of about 50MBytes/s while USB 3.0 has a throughput of about 500MBytes/s. In real life applications though, USB 2.0 devices will register up to 35-40MBytes using top-of-the-line products while USB 3.0 speeds may go upwards to 250MBytes/s depending on the quality of the product. With all that said, users will notice substantial differences when upgrading from a USB 2.0 device to a USB 3.0 device.

     The second part of the graphic tells you that not all USB 3.0 devices are created the same, hence the price disparity. If you didn't what I meant in the last sentence, SanDisk gave a simple analogy: imagine that you are shopping for a sports car, and your decision came down between 2 cars. While both cars are defined as sports cars, one could hit 240km/h while the other could hit 300km/h, without considering other circumstances, you would absolutely choose the one that could do 300km/h. Same goes for a USB 3.0 device; to be classified as one, a device only needs to sport the USB 3.0 mechanical interface and they are set. In short, not all USB 3.0 devices perform the same and some may have perform miles above compared to others.

     After learning that, I did some digging around and lo and behold, I found the perfect example to demonstrate the fact that not all USB 3.0 devices are the same. If you are in touch with technology, you would know the brand, Pendrive, which started all the rave for USB flash drives. However, it seems that it has fade away from its glory days. Looking at its Sliq 3.0, while being relatively affordable, is quite deceptive, while being USB 3.0 compliant, its throughput read speed is only 35MByte/s, which might as well make it a USB 2.0 device instead.

     Of course, there are also USB 3.0 compliant flash drives which utilize the added throughput rate. Let's look at the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 Flash Drive. With read speeds of up to 245MBytes/s and write speeds of up to 190MBytes/s, it is pretty much the bee's knees for fast USB 3.0 flash drives. While it does come at almost 3X the price of the aforementioned Pendrive, the increased performance will make one unable to look at USB devices the same way again.

     This is the what I have learnt from SanDisk as well as my own research. I think after reading this, you are pretty well informed to decide your choice of USB 3.0 flash drives. Pro tip: always read up on the specifications of USB drives before making a purchase and look for the read/write speeds section. If the speed is well below the standard, you know what to do.
     Hello guys! This is the first "Back in Context" post on the site. I have always wanted to write more about facts and basic knowledge that the common tech dweller should have and this time, SanDisk has provided a very well done infographic which inspired this post. What else would you like to learn? Comment below or email me at kenyeohsl[at]gmail.com about what you would like explained! Until next time, goodbye!