TESTA USB 3.0 is up to ten times faster, and fully backwards compatible.
In a nutshell USB 3.0 devices can theoretically transfer data up to ten times faster than USB 2.0. In reality the upper end of the USB 3.0 theoretical performance band is rarely achieved but since USB 3.0 devices are fully backwards compatible there is no advantage to having a USB 2.0 device. In terms of consumer grade flash drives the highest USB 3.0 read speeds we have seen are approximately 250 MBps which is around a 1/3 of the theoretical maximum (625 MBps) but still over five times faster than the fastest USB 2.0 flash drive (50 MBps).
In a nutshell USB 3.0 devices can theoretically transfer data up to ten times faster than USB 2.0. In reality the upper end of the USB 3.0 theoretical performance band is rarely achieved but since USB 3.0 devices are fully backwards compatible there is no advantage to having a USB 2.0 device. In terms of consumer grade flash drives the highest USB 3.0 read speeds we have seen are approximately 250 MBps which is around a 1/3 of the theoretical maximum (625 MBps) but still over five times faster than the fastest USB 2.0 flash drive (50 MBps).
