As USB standard moves towards USB 4 more and more confusion lies on the horizon.
What is USB 4? 
USB 4 is the new standard from the USB-IF (the consortium that develops the universal serial bus standards) to facilitate up to 40 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of data transfer per channel.
Key characteristics of the USB4 solution include:
https://www.usb.org/usb4
-Two-lane operation using existing USB Type-C cables and up to 80 Gbps operation over 80 Gbps certified cables
-Multiple data and display protocols to efficiently share the maximum aggregate bandwidth over the bus
-Backwards compatibility with all previous versions of USB
Do USB 4 flash drives exist and do I need them?
No as of 11/24 USB 4 Flash Drives do not really exist. The standard is basically an input and cable based standard and does exist to facilitate increased speeds for SSD hard drives for the most part. You might need a USB 4 based SSD and cable if you have a data intensive operation such as recording large volumes of video content. Users with such needs will typically be involved in video production and shooting in very high resolution “raw” formats which generate extremely large data sets very quickly.
What are the different USB Standards and associated transfer speeds?
- USB 1.0 – 1.5 Mbps Data Transfer Speeds
- USB 1.1 – 12 Mbps Data Transfer Speeds
- USB 2.0 – 480 Mbps Data Transfer Speeds (typical promotional flash drives with type A input devices)
- USB 3.0 – 5 Gbps Data Transfer Speeds
- USB 3.1 – 10 Gbps Data Transfer Speeds
- USB 3.2 – 20 Gbps Data Transfer Speeds
- USB 4 – 40 Gbps Data Transfer Speeds
It’s important to know that these are theoretical speeds and real world read/write speeds may vary. When connecting devices with different USB versions, the data transfer rate will be limited by the slowest of the connected devices. This means that data transfer will occur at 12 Mbps when you connect a USB 2.0 device to a USB 1.1 device, even though the USB 2.0 device is capable of transferring data at 480 Mbps.
What is the fastest USB Flash Drive Available Today?
It’s widely accepted that the fastest USB flash drive today at the end of 2024 are utilizing what’s referred to as USB 3.2 Gen 2. These USB Drives feature transfer speeds up to 20 Gbps and utilize a type C connection input which is now the standard interface across the android and apple ecosystems.
What are the pros and cons of USB 3.2 Gen 2?
The relatively fast transfer speeds make these drives idea for data intensive USB Flash Drive projects where read/write speeds are imperative. If you are using the drive to run software or video content directly from the USB drive on a device than depending on the specs of your project you may want to look into this latest generation. Another instance where the fast transfer speeds is important is if you are using your Flash Drive as a bridge. The main con is of course the price. USB 3.0 is generally around 35% more than a similar capacity USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 is even more expensive.
The Sandisk below typically sells for around 45 dollars for a 256 GB Drive in the current market.
What is a real world example of using a USB Flash Drive with 3.0 or greater transfer speeds?
Just recently my daughter had maxed out the storage of her iphone taking a bazillion .5 selfies. While they mostly look the same to me, my recommendation was to just delete them. It turns out they were apparently priceless to my daughter. Enter the Sandisk iExpand 256GB USB 3.1 Flash Drive. This particular drive is what’s referred to as an OTG style USB Drive or one with dual ends. One side has the apple lightning interface for older iPhones and the other end has a USB-C input. This made a perfect solution for bridging her photos from her iPhone which was full to her iPad which has a much larger storage capacity. The high speed drive made quick work of the data transfer bridging around 40GB of data in a little under 2 hours. Now my tiny dictator is free to record 30 minute videos of her singing Hamilton songs in the mirror and I can breathe a little easier knowing that her automatic security updates are not paused due to full storage.
Will a USB 2.0 Drive work for my Flash Drive Project?
For the vast majority of flash drive projects the read write speeds will be more than enough. If your drive is promotional or simply sending compliance related documents to large to cost productively print paper documents – a standard USB 2.0 Flash Drive will get the job done just fine.
If you’re not sure which flash drive version is the right solution for you – we are just a phone call away.