The Essential Guide to Buying USB 3.0 External Hard Drive & USB 3.0 Internal Hard Drive

Most modern laptops have three USB ports, and they are not always the fastest. Desktops may have more ports, but it's likely all USB 2.0.

 

Which is a shame because USB 3.0 has ten times faster transfer speeds than USB 2.0, offers more power, and helps save energy by reducing power consumption when peak charging is not required?

 

Pen drives or USB memories allow us to store files or move them from one place to another. Do you want to know the different connection modalities? What speed does each offer? We will tell you with buying advice.

 

There was a time when USB storage units or flash drives were very similar in terms of speeds and type of connection offered. The only differentiating element between them was the storage capacity they offered. 

 

 

This has changed considerably since new connection methods such as USB 3.0, USB 3.1, USB Type C, or even Thunderbolt emerged. As the specification standard increased, so did laptops' supported transfer speed and charging capabilities.

 

 

In this way, now we must not only look at the data of the storage capacity, but we must also take into account the type of USB connection used, its supported reading and writing speeds, and the security and encryption measures. 

 

In an era in which cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or iCloud, among others, prevail, there are times when it is still necessary to have physical access to your files without relying on an Internet connection.

 

It is also the case that current pen drives or USB flash drives support large file sizes, which many cloud services resist. And no less important is the security factor, mainly if we handle business documents to encrypt them.

 

There are also other factors to consider, such as the design, size, type of connector, and support used. We will talk about all these factors below in the compilation that we have made of the best USB flash drives that you will find for sale.

 

 

If it turns out that you have bought one of these memories to make a backup copy of Windows 10, take a look at this article, where we show you how to make a backup copy of your files and the system.

 

What storage capacity do I need?

 

This is a simple question, but have you stopped to think, how much storage do I need the USB memory to have for my daily use?

 

As flash storage has gotten cheaper, we've gotten to the point where it's pretty easy to get a good quality 16GB or even 32GB drive for just over $10 or so, so there are not many reasons to buy a smaller one.

 

That will probably be enough for most purposes, but if you're going to use it to create bootable OS drives, transfer 4K video, or something similar, you might want to spend a bit more for a 64GB memory card or 128GB, or even a whopping 1TB drive.

USB formats

 

It's worth noting that you'll only benefit from the extra 3.0 speed when using the drive with a compatible port. Check if your computer or devices have a port highlighted in blue.

 

If so, that means it supports USB 3.0 speeds (up to 10x faster). Any good drive should also be backward compatible with 2.0 ports; you won't benefit more quickly.

 

 

You'll also see some memory cards that support USB 3.1, which is even faster (10 Mbps). However, you should not necessarily be attracted to advertising.

 

 

Reading Speeds

While 3.1 is theoretically twice as fast as 3.0, you're unlikely to benefit from the extra speed unless you have a newer computer or other devices with 3.1 ports.

 

 

But wait, does your laptop or PC have a USB 3.1? It will most likely still be 3.0. You might even see USB 3.2 on some USB drives, which supports speeds of up to 20Gbps.

 

 

This is where things can get a bit confusing, thanks to a naming convention change announced in 2019 by the people who decide these things. The 3.2 standard encompasses USB 3.0 and 3.1, so how do they differ?

 

If it's USB 3.0, you'll see it written as USB 3.2 Gen 1, while USB 3.1 is listed as USB 3.2 Gen 2. A genuine 3.2 connection at 20Gbps speeds will be listed as USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, which means two times ( "2x") the speed of Gen 2 (10Mbps).

 

If you don't see it marked this way, also look for descriptions like SuperSpeed ​​USB, SuperSpeed ​​USB 10Gbps, and SuperSpeed ​​USB 20Gbp. You may see USB-C ports marked with this speed standard.

Speaking of which, it's now possible to buy some USB-C memory cards, which take advantage of the rise of smaller reversible USB-C ports on phones, tablets, and laptops.

 

Even better, some drives feature USB-A and USB-C connectors, so you can access the same files from a variety of different devices, or even a Lightning connector so you can connect to an iPhone or iPad.

 

 

Transfer speeds

 

 Transfer speeds are determined in part by the USB standard the drive uses, but there is also a lot of variation between different memory cards depending on their manufacture.

 

 

The drives talk about reading and writing speeds. Read speeds are essential for playing files from devices, proper if you want to watch a movie you've saved to a flash drive, and are generally much higher.

 

 

Write speeds are more important if you frequently transfer large files or save them directly to the drive. It's not unusual to see these being much lower than reading speeds, which means that if a drive advertises a single speed without specifying what it is, it's almost certainly the read speed.