The standard for USB version 2.0 was released in April 2000 and serves as an upgrade for USB 1.1.

USB 2.0 (High-speed USB) provides additional bandwidth for multimedia and storage applications and has a data transmission speed 40 times faster than USB 1.1. To allow a smooth transition for both consumers and manufacturers, USB 2.0 has full forward and backward compatibility with original USB devices and works with cables and connectors made for original USB, too.

USB 2.0 power provides up to 0.5 amps / 5 volts / 2.5 amps

Supporting three speed modes (1.5, 12 and 480 megabits per second), USB 2.0 supports low-bandwidth devices such as keyboards and mice, as well as high-bandwidth ones like high-resolution webcams, scanners, printers and high-capacity storage systems. The deployment of USB 2.0 allowed PC industry leaders to forge ahead with the development of PC peripherals to complement existing high-performance PCs. In addition to improving functionality and encouraging innovation, USB 2.0 increases the productivity of user applications and allows the user to run multiple PC applications at once or several high-performance peripherals simultaneously.

The USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed USB) standard became official on Nov. 17, 2008 [source: Everything USB]. USB 3.0 boasts speeds 10 times faster than USB 2.0 at 4.8 gigabits per second. It's meant for applications such as transferring high-definition video footage or backing up an entire hard drive to an external drive. As hard drive capacity grows, the need for a high-speed data transfer method also increases.

USB 3.0 power provides up to 0.9 amps / 5 volts / 4.5 amps

	USB 3.0 ports (left) are typically BLUE in color on the motherboard compared to the standard black on USB 2.0 (right).
USB 3.0 Ports		USB 2.0 Ports
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