Techie question about USB 2.0

[chrisjor]

Are the cables and hubs actually different than 1.1? I have recently purchased several external USB 2.0 cases and 2.0 upgrade cards. I am hoping that I can verify that the cheaper priced USB 1.1 cables and hubs can move data at rates higher than 12 megabits/second. Any thoughts?

 

[Mday]

the hubs are pretty much different, they are designed for 2.0 speeds, dont expect much. usb1.1 hubs wont offer 2.0 speeds.

the cables, usb2 has better shielding. so if you have quality cables, it does not matter. cheap cables may mean slower than optimal if you put it on usb2.0.

usb2.0 addon cards have several ports. and if its based on the nec chip, has 2 1.1 controllers and 1 2.0 controllers (thats all 3 on a single chip). and it is capable of auto negotiating speeds to different ports. so you can plug in a 1.1 hub to one of the ports, while maintaining the other ports for 2.0 purposes.

there is a problem ... drivers...

make sure your card has drivers for your operating system. microsoft will only supply drivers for winxp and win2k. all other windows operating systems are kinda out of luck except from the maker of the card.

 

[Sluggo]

After buying a USB2.0 HDD a couple of weeks back, I think the 2.0 cable was thicker (which may have been the additional shielding.)

 

[chrisjor]

thanks mday,

I have been through the crap with the drivers......I have discovered that Adaptec USB2 Connect cards and Maxtor Usb 2.0 cards have drivers available. I have an Adaptec card in this Epox 8kha+/Win XP pro system I am using now. The external hard drive is connected directly to one of the USB ports on the card and I am achieving decent transfer rates. My question arose due to the fact that an employee at a local "tech" shop told me that since the cables and hubs were "passive" they had no influence over data transfer rates, thus all cables and hubs would work at max rates in USB 1.1 and 2.0 connections. I am dubious. Suddenly I am finding 6' "USB 2.0 Rated" cables at twice the price of other USB cables. The word "rated" seemed to imply that there was no physical difference in the cable, it was a quality issue. Naturally, I would like to continue buying the "cheaper" cables and hubs. Thanks for your input and I hope for more.

Oh, Device Manager does show all the chips as NEC.

 

[Mday]

the thing is, the hubs are built to withstand a certain bandwidth. it requires higher quality components to prevent craptacular noise and other sources of interference from the hub.

As for the cabling, yes, the thickness can be attributed to better shielding. Furthermore, if you look, some of the clear jacketted usb2.0 cables have braided shielding.

The adaptec is a great solution because of the support they offer in terms of a diverse library of drivers for various operating systems. Its what I have for my win98se machine.

passive devices, in reality, take away the quality of the signal from the input.

I am using the cable from my 1.1 hub on my 2.0 burner... heheee, anyway, i have cheap and expensive cabling btw.