usb

Hello I have read that my 2.0usb pc will work with an eternal 3.0 usb device. But will it recover, as I read also that 3.0 will not work with 2.0? I know the speed is 2.0 if one end is 2.0 but if I image from the 2.0 pc then recover from a 3.0 external drive will it still work. I am going to buy a 2.0/3.0 to be sure but wanted to know what I am getting into. Thank you Peter

Not sure where you saw that, but if your looking at getting a USB3 dongle, it should certainly work on USB2 systems, at least all the ones I've looked at say they are backward compatible, do you have a link to what has made you ask this ?

as I read also that 3.0 will not work with 2.0?

Where? USB is forwards and backwards compatible. The only issue is the speed. The connection will only work at the speed of the slowest device. So you will only get USB 3.0 speeds if both the device, and the computer's USB port is 3.0. If the device, or the port are 2.0, you will only achieve 2.0 speeds.

The function of the device has nothing to do with it. As for drives, the data (including image files) on the drive is not affected by the interface, other than the speed at which the data transfers from one to the other.

Not sure where you saw that, but if your looking at getting a USB3 dongle, it should certainly work on USB2 systems, at least all the ones I've looked at say they are backward compatible, do you have a link to what has made you ask this ?

>>I was thinking of buying a new external HDD so was browsing the prices at a retail store..
I noticed that most were 3.0 or 3.0/2.0.

This made me wonder if my 2.0 would both image and recover, i.e., going from my 2.0 to the ext HDD 3.0 and then ext HDD 3.0 to my 2.0.

I put a lot of stock in imaging and wanted to be sure I bought the right drive. I am content with the 2.0 speed though I have experienced the 3.0 which is really fast.

I did not know you could make a 2.0 a 3.0 with a dongle - good info. 3.0 on both ends would speed it up.

Sorry I think you may have misunderstood about the dongle I mentioned, I used a USB thumb drive (dongle) as an example of a device that can be found in USB2 and USB3 formats, but to try and make this clearer, USB2 or USB3 is a set standard that it's hardware utilises, this and this alone sets what that hardware can manage, and when such new formats are introduced, they are pretty much always backward compatible with the previous format, although there may be exceptions somewhere, but they are not forward compatible, as they wont know what that is until a future point.

The "stores" have limited space to put up full details of items, some try and give too much info, leading to confusion for some, others not enough, leaving unanswered questions, in the case you saw, they were simply trying to say it's a USB3 device, but it will work on USB2 as well, but whatever USB format you have, it is ALWAYS limited to the hardware it's connected to, so using a USB3 device, on a USB2 system, it will be limited to the USB2 speed, but when used on a USB3 system, it would use it's full capability, but either way it will work on either format.

What it will not do, is work as a USB4 device (an example of a possible upgrade in the future) in performance terms, no matter what you have, you would then need to buy new USB4 hardware to be able to utilise new formats when they come out in terms of performance, although it would work as a USB3 capability on a USB4 system, as Digerati correctly points out (Thanks for filling in the gap), hope this clears it up a bit for you.

*edit
Clarified points as marked to take into account Digerati's point he correctly made (Thanks again), to much sun and not enough beer makes the pain even worse lol.

but they are not forward compatible, as they wont know what that is until a future point.

That is the rule but like all rules, there are exceptions and to that rule is USB - which IS forward compatible.

I have a lot to be thankful for, mainly your patience. The issue is resolved as I am getting a new drive soon to accommodate the Win 8 .1 update. This I mention in my other post. One post at a time now.