I know USB 3.0 is almost entirely backward-compatible, and I know that it introduces a new speed that USB 2.0 devices aren't capable of, but is there any advantage to having a USB 2.0 device in a USB 3.0 port?
Though I'm interested in if it would provide any benefit for any device, I was specifically thinking of a USB Hub that I plug my Bluetooth receiver and flash-drives into.
Best Answer
Actually, yes, it will be faster by a small margin. You will only see gain if the device in question can dish out a higher bandwidth over another interface like ExpressCard or PCIe. for instance a modern 7200 hard drive in a external enclosure could more than saturate the USB 2.0 port. If the enclosure is a USB 2.0 device, it will be operate with more of its bandwidth when plugged into a USB 3.0 hub, but not nearly as much as if it was a USB 3.0 to USB 3.0 device to hub link (with a USB 3.0 cable).
At least on my laptop, USB 2.0 external 500 GB on USB 2.0 gives me about 19–23 MB/s and up to 25–32 MB/s when connected to a USB 3.0 express card. So I am getting both a higher minimum speed and ceiling when the same USB 2.0 device is on the USB 3.0 hub. I think the controller is probably more efficient on USB 3.0. When I plugin a USB 3.0 thumb drive on the same ExpressCard USB 3.0 hub though, I get up to 122 MB/s.
So short answer; yes, a small increase, but not nearly as fast as native USB 3.0 links.