USB Identification

[AaronABurton1]

Until I started watching these videos, I always thought that USB was USB. Now I find out that there are different versions. How do I tell what version of USB drives I have on my laptop (without cracking it open), and also find out what version of USB are my thumb drives and various connection cables? I've tried taking a magnifying glass to just about everything and none of them have any indication such as "USB 2.0" printed on them.

[vanished]

Run a transfer speed test.  If it exceeds 30 MB/s by a decent amount (like 40 sustained or better) it's USB 3.  If it can't hit 30, it doesn't matter what it is.  If it's pegged at 30, it's almost certainly 2

[Guest]

USB 3.0 port is always blue. Or at least it has a small SS written beside it. I don't think any computer uses USB 1.0 anymore.

 

If you can't see look at device manager (right click your computer > manage or search computer management). It should list USB 3.0 (if exist) under Universal Serial Bus controllers

[Enderman]

They're probably all USB 2.

And it doesn't really matter because USB 3 and 2 devices are all compatible.

 

[Pinguinsan]

Alternatively to what @Ryan_Vickers said, look into the USB slot. A USB 3.0 port will have the normal 4 USB pins, but also have 5 addition pins along the front.

If you don't have those pins, you can check in the "Universale Serial Bus controllers" drop down in the Windows device manager (I'm assuming you're using Windows, but correct me if I'm wrong). If you see something like "Intel (R)  USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller", you have at least one USB3.0 port on your computer.

Lastly, if you don't have USB3.0, run a speed test on it. If it's insanely slow ( < 5MB/s), you have USB 1.0. I really, really (REALLY) doubt it's a USB1.0 port.