USB Faq

What is USB 2.0?
Finalized in 2001, Universial Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 is a complete overhaul of the Universal Serial Bus input/output bus protocol which allows much higher speeds than the older USB 1.1 standard did. The goal of the new serial bus is to broaden the range of external peripherals that can be used on a computer. A hard drive can easily hit the USB 1.1 bottleneck whereas it now becomes more 'usable' under USB 2.0 conditions.

How fast is USB 2.0?
USB 2.0 has a raw data rate at 480Mbps, and it is rated 40 times faster than its predecessor interface, USB 1.1, which tops at 12Mbps. Originally, USB 2.0 was intended to go only as fast as 240Mbps, but in October 1999, USB 2.0 Promoter Group pumped up the speed to 480Mbps.

As far as we know, effective rate reaches at 40MBps or 320Mbps for bulk transfer on a USB 2.0 hard drive with no one else is sharing the bus. Flash Drives seem to be catching up too with the some hitting 30MB/s milestone. For all we know, manufacturers may claim USB interface becoming the performance bottleneck for flash drives as early as 2007.

Do I need USB 2.0?
Almost every conceivable peripheral has a USB 2.0 version ranging from a HDTV tuner to a micro hard drive to even video card. So, even if you buy a all-in-one HP multimedia PC with all the gizmos, you'll still need something USB eventually. (Maybe not Everything USB).

Should you own a laptop, you may like to know that USB is also your ticket out of the proprietary world. It used to be that docking stations must all match that exact notebook model due to the proprietary connection. Now, you can just plug in a USB 2.0 docking station, and you'll get a USB hub, 7.1 surround audio, serial converters, Ethernet plus a notebook holder.