USB 2.0 or 3.0 - Significant?

[toMACsh]

I'm talking flash drives. Will USB 2.0 drives become obsolete and no longer function in the future?

Also, how do I tell if my Das keyboard's USB port is 2.0 or 3.0? Same ? for my Non-Apple hub. (Does Apple even make hubs?)

My Mac is a Mini, late 2014. I'm also not sure how to tell if its USB ports are 2.0, 3.0, or something else.

P.S. There is really no category here for Non-Apple Hardware, as this one is under the heading of "Apple Hardware" but "Other" seems to come the closest.

 

[ferrarr]

I have that same model mini, it has 4 USB 3.0 ports. They all seem to be backwards compatible, so far. The only difference will be speed, where older is slower. So, flash drives you will see a difference. Other devices, keyboards, mice, and printers shouldn't see a difference.

To tell what specs your hardware is, you will need to open System Information in your Utilities folder. Then select USB in the sidebar, then select the device you are inquiring about.

 

[toMACsh]

Thanks. Looks like everything else is 2.0 here. It works, so buying another 2.0 flash drive should be ok.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

USB is backward compatible either at the device or at the USB port. So if you were to purchase a new machine that has USB 3.0 ports, it will support USB 1, 2, and 3 devices at their rated speeds. If you have a machine that only has USB 2.0 ports and plug a USB 3 device into it, the device will operate at USB 2 speed.

So there is no obsolescence here, just a reduction of speed (which might be OK based on your use case)