A flash drive with a 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 interface – what does that mean?

USB drives can be divided into three core groups according to their speed.

USB drives can be divided into three core groups according to their speed:

USB 1.1 (Full Speed) – devices that meet this specification can run at a speed of 1.5 Mb/s (0.1875 MB/s) or 12 Mb/s (1.5 MB/s).

USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed) – devices that meet this new specification can run at a speed of 480 Mb/s (60MB/s). In practice, however, they usually peak at 320 Mb/s (40 MB/s). USB 2.0 standard devices are fully compatible with older hardware.

USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed) – such devices (when connected to an USB 3.0 port) transfer data at a speed up to 4.8 Gb/s (600 MB/s). Such devices first appeared in 2009. The flash drive is capable of sending data via both the USB 3.0 and the USB 2.0 ports.

Due to the relatively high price of 3.0 interface devices, flash drives with a 2.0 interface are usually used for marketing purposes. It is vital, however, that the devices have reliable chipsets made by such brands as Toshiba, Samsung, or Sandisc.