Flash drives have sped up from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0. What’s that mean? It’s faster! On average, USB 3.0 devices are 3.5-5x faster than USB 2.0 devices. Essentially, it will take a USB 2.0 flash drive 22 minutes and 14 seconds to copy 10GB of files to a computer whereas it only take a USB 3.0 flash drive a speedy 6.5 minutes. In theory, it can reach up to 10x faster, but that rarely occurs due to the hard drive, flash drive, or computer slowing down the works.
Should you buy a USB 3.0 flash drive? Yes, if you’re in the market for a new flash drive or external hard drive for that matter. It will only speed up your file transfer speed. If you already own a USB 2.0 flash drive, I wouldn’t run out to replace it unless you work with your USB drive a lot and want to improve your performance.
USB 3.0 flash drives or external hard drive will help speed up the following computer services:
Keep in mind that if your computer is on the older side, USB 3.0 probably won’t have such a speedy effect since your resulting speed will be dictated by your system’s sluggish motherboard USB ports. Specifically, if your computer has USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 ports, your USB 3.0 thumb flash drive or external hard drive will be faster overall, but will not get up to its optimal speed due to your older USB ports slowing it down. So, to get the full speedy effect, make sure you have a newer computer or install a USB 3.0 card.