USB 3.0 Spec Finished: It's SuperSpeed USB
With USB 2.0 ports becoming a common as dirt—you’ll find them in everything from mobile phones to DVD players these days—you know the time has come to move on to a new version. And that’s just what the USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced today.
USB 3.0 will support data rates as high as 5.0 Gb/sec—rendering the new standard 10 times faster than USB 2.0. Having already dubbed USB 2.0 as “Hi-Speed USB,” however, the group had to come up with a brand-new superlative for USB 3.0. After much discussion, they finally settled on “SuperSpeed USB” (perhaps holding “Ludicrous Speed” in reserve for USB 4.0).
“SuperSpeed USB is the next advancement in ubiquitous technology,” said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF president and chairman. “Today’s consumers are using rich media and large digital files that need to be easily and quickly transferred from PCs to devices and vice versa. SuperSpeed USB meets the needs of everyone from the tech-savvy executive to the average home user.”
Although USB 3.0 will use a different cable, it will use the same types as connectors and will therefore be backward-compatible (good thing, considering that more than two billion USB devices were shipped in 2006 alone, according to the USB Implementers Forum). Six signals will be carried on a USB 3.0 cable (four for a SuperSpeed data path and two for a non-SuperSpeed data path). USB 2.0 cables carry just two signals for low-speed (1.5Mb/s) and full- and high-speed data paths (12- and 480Mb/s, respectively). The USB 3.0 bus will provide 50 percent more power for unconfigured or suspended devices, and 80 percent more power for configured devices.
The USB 3.0 Promoter Group anticipates that SuperSpeed USB discrete controllers will hit the market in the second half 2009, with the first consumer products appearing in 2010. The group expects that data-storage devices such as flash drives, external hard drives, digital cameras and camcorders, and digital media players will be among the earliest USB 3.0 products.

Just to bad the name blows arse and cant be spoken out loud fast for more than 4 times.
Now the NEW USB, on steroids and with morning rage.
Better than the old one, and faster than your Maibatsu Thunder.
Yeah in 5 years I never heard anyone say "Is that hard drive HighSpeed compatible?" or even "Is that flash drive USB two point o?". USB 2 is the only term I have ever heard, so I'm pretty sure everyone will just stick with USB 3.
Good work!
...now only make sure the controller is cheap
They've gone to plaid!
They've gone to plaid!
LoL.
You don't really want to know. Why do you think Intel pushed Core i7 out so fast?
Seriously, I may actually buy a "USB" Hard drive now. Depending on how expensive the add-in cards are, I may become an early adopter.
Here is a review of Vantec External Enclosure with USB2 and eSATA
http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews05/vantecns3_4
The USB2 test is noticably crappier than an internal drive and eSATA.
USB 2 Test
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6667/graph27541493ly7.jpg
Using the data from that test, I tested one of my SATA 3G 320Gb hard drives and the results tell me USB2.0 cannot handle the full speed of my hard drive. 32.2 MB/s is nowhere near 69.6MB/s For Sequential Reads and 34MB/s isn't close to 251.2MB/s for Burst Speeds
My tests
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2205/snag0055au8.jpg
But if USB3 works @ alteast 50% of its advertised speeds it would handle it.
The speed of USB 3 isn't listed anywhere in this article, but it's something like 500MB/s. SATA 2 maxes out near 300MB/s. So in theory, a solid state drive could run faster using USB 3 than SATA 2 and you probably wouldn't need a power source. SSDs aren't very power hungry.
In short zak_mckraken has no idea what he's talking about.
The speed of USB 3 isn't listed anywhere in this article, but it's something like 500MB/s. SATA 2 maxes out near 300MB/s. So in theory, a solid state drive could run faster using USB 3 than SATA 2 and you probably wouldn't need a power source. SSDs aren't very power hungry.
In short zak_mckraken has no idea what he's talking about.
Indeed it is....
From TFA
Using an easy to find bit calculator, 5 gigabits/s = 640 Megabytes/s
http://www.matisse.net/bitcalc/?input_amount=5&input_units=gigabits¬ation=legacy
USB 2.0 is 480 Megabits /s. Which is 60 Megabytes /s http://www.matisse.net/bitcalc/?input_amount=480&input_units=megabits¬ation=legacy
In short I appreciate the agreement that Zak was talking out of his ass, but at least make sure your numbers are correct.
Although my guesstimates on actual throughput were just that...guesstimates based on USB2 actual throughput being roughly 50% of rated, meaning if USB3 can achieve the same percentage of throughput then 50% of 640 is 320 megabytes/s which is plenty for my current hard drives(250Mbytes/s Burst Read, 69.6Mbytes/s Sequential)