Do usb 3.0 flash drives work at usb 3.2 gen 2 speeds? Or how does this work?

[gijoe50000]

I've been searching online for about an hour now, and I still have no idea how all this works with usb 3 flash drives.

I know a flash drive obviously won't run faster than the port speed, but is there such a thing as a USB 3.2 gen 2x2 (did I get that right?) flash drive?

Or does any usb 3.0 flash drive just work at the speed of the port it's plugged into, even if it's a 3.1 or 3.2 port, or whatever they're called today?

 

Like, if I buy a usb 3.0 flash drive and plug it into a usb 3.2 gen 2x2 port will it run at the 3.2 speed?

[Levent]

USB is backwards compatible. So if you buy a USB3.0 drive and plug into a 3.2 port it will still work at 3.0 speeds (5Gbps instead of 20Gbps)

[gijoe50000]

Ah right, thanks.

So does this mean that for fastest usb speed I'd need to get a usb 3.2 stick? Do they even exist? 

[Timotheus2]

Yes, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. No, they don't.

[gijoe50000]

1 minute ago, Timotheus2 said:

Yes, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. No, they don't.

Oh right.

My first thought was what's the point then? but I suppose there's also pcie gen 4, and there's nothing that can really utilise that yet either. So, yea.

I suppose faster usb sticks will come out eventually then. 

Thanks.

[paddy-stone]

All USB sticks are not equal.. you can get supposedly USB 3.1 (10Gbps) sticks, but some of them run slower than the older gen. Also they recently changed the naming scheme which makes it even more confusing, as some products advertising still has the old naming scheme.

 

Anyway, if you want a REALLY good speed, you could go with either a m.2 caddy SATA, or m.2 caddy NVME... the SATA version is obviously slower than the NVME, but still WAY faster than most USB sticks. I got a fairly cheap one, and a 240GB m.2 drive for around £43 all-in, and the speeds are usually in the range of

 

 

And you can get those m.2 drives cheaper now, as below (change country in the top right corner if different)

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/internal-hard-drive/#A=220000000000,16000000000000&t=0&sort=price&f=122080&i=83

 

[paddy-stone]

Oh, sorry forgot the caddy itself

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=m.2+caddy+sata&crid=32XF25HGB2X0L&sprefix=m.2+caddy%2Caps%2C358&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_9

 

I would recommend a well rated one though, such as this

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrent-NGFF-Aluminum-Enclosure-EC-M2MC/dp/B0765D6NJV/ref=sr_1_7?crid=32XF25HGB2X0L&keywords=m.2+caddy+sata&qid=1573315524&smid=A3OPWMF9XBYSSI&sprefix=m.2+caddy%2Caps%2C358&sr=8-7

 

So, total cost would be under £40 for a fairly good speed USB device that is light, fairly robust and fast.

[gijoe50000]

38 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

All USB sticks are not equal.. you can get supposedly USB 3.1 (10Gbps) sticks, but some of them run slower than the older gen. Also they recently changed the naming scheme which makes it even more confusing, as some products advertising still has the old naming scheme.

 

Anyway, if you want a REALLY good speed, you could go with either a m.2 caddy SATA, or m.2 caddy NVME... the SATA version is obviously slower than the NVME, but still WAY faster than most USB sticks. I got a fairly cheap one, and a 240GB m.2 drive for around £43 all-in, and the speeds are usually in the range of

 

 

And you can get those m.2 drives cheaper now, as below (change country in the top right corner if different)

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/internal-hard-drive/#A=220000000000,16000000000000&t=0&sort=price&f=122080&i=83

 

Nice one, I never even thought about sticking an nvme into an enclosure.

Yea, that renaming thing is a total disaster. Not only because of the big long confusing names, but also because you never know if an article has been updated after the names changed, or if it's between the first and second renaming, and especially when they don't use to full total complete name, along with a date beside it. 

 

When browsing that Amazon link for example I found myself just totally ignoring the names, and looking at the Gbps.

Whoever is in charge of usb naming/renaming needs to be shot.

 

I don't do a lot of transferring so I probably won't end up getting an nvme and an enclosure, I'll probably just pick up a cheap 64GB usb or something, but I'll keep it in mind. I just wasn't sure if all usb 3.0 were equal or not.

 

I'm doing an x570 build next week, when the parts arrive, so I was curious about the usb 3.2 gen 1 & 2 ports on it, and what type of flash drive to get, when I pick one up. I don't think type C is common enough yet to be worth the bother.

 

 

[paddy-stone]

24 minutes ago, gijoe50000 said:

Nice one, I never even thought about sticking an nvme into an enclosure.

Yea, that renaming thing is a total disaster. Not only because of the big long confusing names, but also because you never know if an article has been updated after the names changed, or if it's between the first and second renaming, and especially when they don't use to full total complete name, along with a date beside it. 

 

When browsing that Amazon link for example I found myself just totally ignoring the names, and looking at the Gbps.

Whoever is in charge of usb naming/renaming needs to be shot.

 

I don't do a lot of transferring so I probably won't end up getting an nvme and an enclosure, I'll probably just pick up a cheap 64GB usb or something, but I'll keep it in mind. I just wasn't sure if all usb 3.0 were equal or not.

 

I'm doing an x570 build next week, when the parts arrive, so I was curious about the usb 3.2 gen 1 & 2 ports on it, and what type of flash drive to get, when I pick one up. I don't think type C is common enough yet to be worth the bother.

 

 

Most new motherboards have a USB 3.1 gen 1 or 2 (10Gbps) IIRC, my b450 mobo has, and also pretty much every mobo I've seen from the last few years. Like so

 

[gijoe50000]

14 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

Most new motherboards have a USB 3.1 gen 1 or 2 (10Gbps) IIRC, my b450 mobo has, and also pretty much every mobo I've seen from the last few years. Like so

 

 

The board I have on order is a TUF X570. It has a few 3.2 Gen 1 & 2. I assume they're the 5 and 10 Gbps respectively..

I suppose that's more than fast enough for copying a few songs and word documents, and the odd few movies!

 

[paddy-stone]

4 hours ago, gijoe50000 said:

 

The board I have on order is a TUF X570. It has a few 3.2 Gen 1 & 2. I assume they're the 5 and 10 Gbps respectively..

I suppose that's more than fast enough for copying a few songs and word documents, and the odd few movies!

 

For sure

 

The diskmark that I posted was done with my front USB ports using a USB A to C cable... so technically only (old) usb 3.0 speeds (5Gbps). A SATA m.2 drive maxes out at around 550MB/s tops anyway, so wouldn't be a massive improvement putting it over a 10Gbps linik anyway... you'd have to go with a much more expensive NVME caddy - usually start at around £30-40, and an NVME drive... but then, unless you go with an older gen NVME drive, you'd be constrained by the 10Gbps interface as most new NVME drives can now hit around 3000MBps (3GBps) write speeds, depending on the source drive too though don't forget. So to get the best out of a newer NVME drive you'd have to wait for USB 4 really and have a new caddy to support those speeds, which don't exist yet I think, except for thunderbolt , AND have the source drive also be a fast NVME drive too.

 

[edit] You could get close though, with 3.2 gen 2x2, at approx 2.5GBps.