Seems that the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 motherboard has both the 4.8Gbps USB 3 and 6Gbps SATA 3 interfaces.  Obviously an expensive motherboard, but signals the start of USB 3/SATA 3 adoption - maybe.
As of now, it seems only top of the line SSDs, like the OCZ Z-Drive, could really make use of the latter interface, but USB 3 might help with a number of things.
Apparently some announcements of producing USB 3 USB sticks have been made but I'd expect them to be expensive for a while before mass adoption.

Unfortunately, I see a lot of "public" computers (school etc) sticking to a USB 2 interface for quite a while, so it may be a slow transition to really get any speed boosts.

(This post was last modified: 02/12/2009 03:32 AM by ZiNgA BuRgA.)

Hmm, well I'd imagine USB3 sticks will have backwards compatibility so I'd imagine when it gets reasonably priced there would be no reason not to.

How much faster is SATA?

I amnot sure and can't find a page about it back with google,. but,.. i think i also read something about a new connection,. optical >?>?

(This post was last modified: 02/12/2009 03:38 AM by Vegetano1.)

Senseito7 Wrote:Hmm, well I'd imagine USB3 sticks will have backwards compatibility so I'd imagine when it gets reasonably priced there would be no reason not to.

How much faster is SATA?

From memory, SATA 1 is 150MB/sec, SATA 2 is 300MB/sec (2.4Gbps) so SATA 3 more than doubles the speed.  Not sure, just search up Wiki.

Vegetano1 Wrote:I amnot sure and can't find a page about it back with google,. but,.. i think i also read something about a new connection,. optical >?>?

Hmm, haven't heard of that.  Optical?  Generally good for long distance transfer due to low noise, but unsure about interfaces inside a PC...

I wish my external HDD supported eSATA or Firewire, because USB2 is really not enough.

For most USB sticks, USB2 speed is sort of sufficient though.

ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:

Vegetano1 Wrote:I amnot sure and can't find a page about it back with google,. but,.. i think i also read something about a new connection,. optical >?>?

Hmm, haven't heard of that.  Optical?  Generally good for long distance transfer due to low noise, but unsure about interfaces inside a PC...

yes,. and suposed to be very fast,. faster then USB3,. also not sure was optical,. ;p

Assassinator Wrote:I wish my external HDD supported eSATA or Firewire, because USB2 is really not enough.

If it's a SATA drive (you bought a pre-packaged one right?) you may be able to take it out and just plug it straight into the eSATA port.

Cheaper USB sticks seem to have poo poo speeds, but I think better ones are probably getting to USB 2 limits.

(This post was last modified: 02/12/2009 04:19 AM by ZiNgA BuRgA.)

ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:

Assassinator Wrote:I wish my external HDD supported eSATA or Firewire, because USB2 is really not enough.

If it's a SATA drive (you bought a pre-packaged one right?) you may be able to take it out and just plug it straight into the eSATA port.

Taking it out would kill my remaining 2.5yrs of warranty.

And I sort of like some of the features of the case, such as hibernating when not in use for a while, and shutting off whenever the computer hibernates or shuts off, so I don't need to pull the plug out every time I shut off the computer like I need to for my other portable HDD.

You have to pull the plug when you turn the PC off?  Never had to do that with any of the ~5 cases I've had, lol.