When you are looking to buy a new USB cable, you need to know which kind of USB you are looking at to make sure you get the right one. This guide will show you how to differentiate between the different USB port types to ensure you get the correct one you need.
USB 1.0 and 1.1
USB 1.0 and 1.1 ports and cables are color-coded white. USB 1.1 is still the most common type of USB being used today, despite it being the most dated form of USB and is the slowest in data transfer speed. This is due to most peripheral devices such as keyboards and mice all use USB 1.0, since all computers with a USB port supports USB 1.0. Below is an image of an USB 1.0 cable.
USB 2.0
USB 2.0 ports and cables are color-coded black. The data transfer speed of USB 2.0 is can be up to 40 times of the speed of USB 1.0. Some mobile phones and external hard disk drives (HDD) cables use USB 2.0. Below is an image of an USB 2.0 cable.
USB 3.0
USB 3.0 ports and cables are color-coded blue. USB 3.1, the newer version of USB 3 series, are color coded red, but this color scheme is uncommon. The data transfer speed of USB 3.0, at 5 Gigabytes per second, is about ten times of the speed of USB 2.0. USB 3.1, being double the speed of USB 3.0, is about 20 times faster. Most newer versions of external hard disk drives (HDD) cables use USB 3.0. While all USB 3.0 ports are backwards compatible, meaning that you can plug a USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 cable into them and they would work. Some cables, however, like the Micro-b USB 3.0 cable, are not backwards compatible, which means when plugged into a USB 2.0 slot would not work. Below is an image of an USB 3.0 cable.
Now that you know how to identify the different types of USB ports and cables, you can easily find and purchase the correct USB cables for your devices.