USB 2.0 was finalized in 2001, Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 is a complete overhaul of the Universal Serial Bus input/output bus protocol which allows much higher speeds than the older USB 1.1 standard did.

The goal of the new serial bus is to broaden the range of external peripherals that can be used on a computer.... for example many modern devices you may want to plug into your computer require fast data transfer to and from the device.

BUT under the old USB 1.1 system this was not possible!

Data transfer speeds are:

USB 1.1 = 12 Mbits/second [1.5MB/s]

USB 2.0 = 480 Mbits/second [60MB/s]

...that is quite a big difference!

The bandwidth of each of the interfaces, which is a theoretical measure of the data transfer speeds of an interface, is shown in megabits per second (MBit/s), and megabytes per second (MB/s). There are eight bits in a byte, so dividing MBits/s by eight converts it to MB/s.

How Do I Know If I have USB 2.0?

When you look at a USB 1.1 and 2.0 connection, they look EXACTLY the same!

Click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.

On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.

On Universal Serial Bus controllers click the + sign

Now look at the list that expands out and look for an entry called:

"Enhanced USB Controller"

Device Manager

If you can see this entry then you have USB 2.0 !

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This page was last updated 19th June 2006

USB 2.0

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