How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

nbtrap · 2012-03-21 18:12:38

Aside from looking at the hardware manual, is there a way to tell through software whether my usb drives are 3.0-compatible? I've tried lspci, lsusb, and lshw, but I can't find where/whether their output says anything about the usb version.

Last edited by nbtrap (2012-03-21 18:13:59)

FlyingHappy · 2012-03-21 18:53:23

I believe USB 3.0 drives will be blue instead of black.

karol · 2012-03-21 18:59:21

FlyingHappy wrote:

I believe USB 3.0 drives will be blue instead of black.

The connectors and sockets that is, not the cases :-)

MisterAnderson · 2012-03-22 10:57:11

USB 3.0 devices have different plugs and sockets that are backwards compatible. If they have the micro-usb connectors (the ones found on all modern smartphones and some 2.5" hard drive cases) the connector will have a separate, attached section to the side with an extra 5 pins. USB B plugs (the kind found on printers) have an extra section off the curved side housing the 5 pins. If it's USB A (as in, flash drives and the kind that are in your computer) it will look the same, except when you look inside of the plug you can see the 5 extra pins.

And if they are industry standard they should all have blue plastic instead of white or black inside them.

Here's a really good picture that has the USB 2.0 and 3.0 plugs next to each other, the 3.0 ones being blue. http://www.usr.com/education/periphimg/ … es-all.jpg

nbtrap · 2012-03-22 12:16:57

Thank you all for the help, but I'm still wondering how to determine this by software alone.

MisterAnderson · 2012-03-22 12:59:02

nbtrap wrote:

Thank you all for the help, but I'm still wondering how to determine this by software alone.

Run this

$ watch -n1 "dmesg|tail"

then watch the output while plugging in your device. It will load ehci_hcd if it's 2.0, xhci_hcd if it's 3.0. This will only work if you're plugging in to a 3.0 port, otherwise it will always load ehci.

nbtrap · 2012-03-22 13:15:06

MisterAnderson wrote:

nbtrap wrote:
Thank you all for the help, but I'm still wondering how to determine this by software alone.
Run this
$ watch -n1 "dmesg|tail"
then watch the output while plugging in your device. It will load ehci_hcd if it's 2.0, xhci_hcd if it's 3.0. This will only work if you're plugging in to a 3.0 port, otherwise it will always load ehci.

Thanks again, but I'm still left wondering how to tell whether the port itself supports 3.0 without any accompanying 3.0 device. There's got to be a way to do it.

ViruSzZ · 2012-03-22 16:02:02

nbtrap wrote:

MisterAnderson wrote:
nbtrap wrote:
Thank you all for the help, but I'm still wondering how to determine this by software alone.
Run this
$ watch -n1 "dmesg|tail"
then watch the output while plugging in your device. It will load ehci_hcd if it's 2.0, xhci_hcd if it's 3.0. This will only work if you're plugging in to a 3.0 port, otherwise it will always load ehci.
Thanks again, but I'm still left wondering how to tell whether the port itself supports 3.0 without any accompanying 3.0 device. There's got to be a way to do it.

You said you tried lsusb. Is there any lsusb -v | grep -i bcdusb output ???

I dont have any other idea ...

MisterAnderson · 2012-03-23 03:03:15

OH, you wanted to know if the ports support it. I thought you wanted to know if your devices supported it and that you already knew your ports did.

Firstly, the plastic divider will be blue inside the ports. If you want to tell by software, ViruSzZ answer will work, for example:

[greg@spacebar ~]$ sudo lsusb -v | grep -i bcdusb
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bcdUSB               3.00
  bcdUSB               1.10
  bcdUSB               1.10

You can also try doing lspci | grep USB and your controller names should have it in them. On the same computer as before:

[greg@spacebar ~]$ lspci | grep USB
00:02.0 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP61 USB 1.1 Controller (rev a2)
00:02.1 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP61 USB 2.0 Controller (rev a2)
03:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 03)

If you want to see per port (as in, which physical USB ports are 3.0) you'll just have to look at them, or plug something 3.0 in, but this will tell you if you have the controllers.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-03-21 18:12:38

How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

#2 2012-03-21 18:53:23

Re: How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

#3 2012-03-21 18:59:21

Re: How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

#4 2012-03-22 10:57:11

Re: How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

#5 2012-03-22 12:16:57

Re: How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

#6 2012-03-22 12:59:02

Re: How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

#7 2012-03-22 13:15:06

Re: How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

#8 2012-03-22 16:02:02

Re: How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

#9 2012-03-23 03:03:15

Re: How do I tell whether my usb drives support 3.0?

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