There are some significant differences between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 that you should consider when selecting cables to connect your peripherals and devices.

To accurately identify the fastest USB port on your computer, you need to understand the different USB versions. USB 2.0, also known as High-Speed, supports data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps.

If your PC has USB 3.0 ports, you can get a big speed boost by relocating your external drive to a faster enclosure.

The people behind the USB specification have announced the upcoming USB 4 version 2, which will support 80 Gbps speeds, making it faster than Thunderbolt 4.