Dell OptiPlex 5055 R Small Form Factor OptiPlex 5055 Small Form Factor Owners - Page 53

Speed, Applications, External Desktop USB 3.1 Gen 1 Hard Drives

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● New power management features ● Full-duplex data transfers and support for new transfer types ● Backward USB 2.0 compatibility ● New connectors and cable The topics below cover some of the most commonly asked questions regarding USB 3.1 Gen 1. Speed Currently, there are 3 speed modes defined by the latest USB 3.1 Gen 1 specification. They are Super-Speed, Hi-Speed and FullSpeed. The new SuperSpeed mode has a transfer rate of 4.8Gbps. While the specification retains Hi-Speed, and Full-Speed USB mode, commonly known as USB 2.0 and 1.1 respectively, the slower modes still operate at 480Mbps and 12Mbps respectively and are kept to maintain backward compatibility. USB 3.1 Gen 1 achieves the much higher performance by the technical changes below: ● An additional physical bus that is added in parallel with the existing USB 2.0 bus (refer to the picture below). ● USB 2.0 previously had four wires (power, ground, and a pair for differential data); USB 3.1 Gen 1 adds four more for two pairs of differential signals (receive and transmit) for a combined total of eight connections in the connectors and cabling. ● USB 3.1 Gen 1 utilizes the bidirectional data interface, rather than USB 2.0's half-duplex arrangement. This gives a 10-fold increase in theoretical bandwidth. With today's ever increasing demands placed on data transfers with high-definition video content, terabyte storage devices, high megapixel count digital cameras etc., USB 2.0 may not be fast enough. Furthermore, no USB 2.0 connection could ever come close to the 480Mbps theoretical maximum throughput, making data transfer at around 320Mbps (40MB/s) - the actual real-world maximum. Similarly, USB 3.1 Gen 1 connections will never achieve 4.8Gbps. We will likely see a real-world maximum rate of 400MB/s with overheads. At this speed, USB 3.1 Gen 1 is a 10x improvement over USB 2.0. Applications USB 3.1 Gen 1 opens up the laneways and provides more headroom for devices to deliver a better overall experience. Where USB video was barely tolerable previously (both from a maximum resolution, latency, and video compression perspective), it's easy to imagine that with 5-10 times the bandwidth available, USB video solutions should work that much better. Single-link DVI requires almost 2Gbps throughput. Where 480Mbps was limiting, 5Gbps is more than promising. With its promised 4.8Gbps speed, the standard will find its way into some products that previously weren't USB territory, like external RAID storage systems. Listed below are some of the available SuperSpeed USB 3.1 Gen 1 products: ● External Desktop USB 3.1 Gen 1 Hard Drives ● Portable USB 3.1 Gen 1 Hard Drives Technology and components 53

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New power management features
Full-duplex data transfers and support for new transfer types
Backward USB 2.0 compatibility
New connectors and cable
The topics below cover some of the most commonly asked questions regarding USB 3.1 Gen 1.
Speed
Currently, there are 3 speed modes defined by the latest USB 3.1 Gen 1 specification. They are Super-Speed, Hi-Speed and Full-
Speed. The new SuperSpeed mode has a transfer rate of 4.8Gbps. While the specification retains Hi-Speed, and Full-Speed USB
mode, commonly known as USB 2.0 and 1.1 respectively, the slower modes still operate at 480Mbps and 12Mbps respectively
and are kept to maintain backward compatibility.
USB 3.1 Gen 1 achieves the much higher performance by the technical changes below:
An additional physical bus that is added in parallel with the existing USB 2.0 bus (refer to the picture below).
USB 2.0 previously had four wires (power, ground, and a pair for differential data); USB 3.1 Gen 1 adds four more for two
pairs of differential signals (receive and transmit) for a combined total of eight connections in the connectors and cabling.
USB 3.1 Gen 1 utilizes the bidirectional data interface, rather than USB 2.0's half-duplex arrangement. This gives a 10-fold
increase in theoretical bandwidth.
With today's ever increasing demands placed on data transfers with high-definition video content, terabyte storage devices,
high megapixel count digital cameras etc., USB 2.0 may not be fast enough. Furthermore, no USB 2.0 connection could ever
come close to the 480Mbps theoretical maximum throughput, making data transfer at around 320Mbps (40MB/s) — the actual
real-world maximum. Similarly, USB 3.1 Gen 1 connections will never achieve 4.8Gbps. We will likely see a real-world maximum
rate of 400MB/s with overheads. At this speed, USB 3.1 Gen 1 is a 10x improvement over USB 2.0.
Applications
USB 3.1 Gen 1 opens up the laneways and provides more headroom for devices to deliver a better overall experience. Where
USB video was barely tolerable previously (both from a maximum resolution, latency, and video compression perspective), it's
easy to imagine that with 5-10 times the bandwidth available, USB video solutions should work that much better. Single-link
DVI requires almost 2Gbps throughput. Where 480Mbps was limiting, 5Gbps is more than promising. With its promised 4.8Gbps
speed, the standard will find its way into some products that previously weren't USB territory, like external RAID storage
systems.
Listed below are some of the available SuperSpeed USB 3.1 Gen 1 products:
External Desktop USB 3.1 Gen 1 Hard Drives
Portable USB 3.1 Gen 1 Hard Drives
Technology and components
53