We’ve been struggling for years with large file transfers and backups over the USB 2.0 protocol and it felt like USB 3.0 would never get here. At 10 times the speed of USB 2.0 it really is a milestone in technology. Backups and file transfers will be 10X the speed of current USB 2 specs. You can see on the comparison chart that you can transfer a 2GB HD movie in around 2-3 mins, compared to 12-13 mins on USB 2.0.

USB 3 performance chart

So, what’s available?

The new Gigabyte motherboards with P55 chipset have a USB 3.0 interface. At this time there are only two USB 3.0 ports because most plug and play devices are USB 2.0.

Western Digital have released two hard drives which support the new interface 3 series. One is the Caviar Black series available in 1TB and 2TB. This is a SATA-3 hard drives which will double the speed of SATA-II in current specifications. WD have also released the My Book external USB 3 drive. Prices are surprisingly reasonable at  $249 for the 1TB model at time of writing.

Order a WD USB 3.0 with your new computer in Perth. For more specs visit Western Digital’s mini site.