Does older hardware benefit from USB 3.0 or SATA 6Gb/s?

[JohnJSal]

I plan on keeping my HDD and optical drive (listed in my signature), as well as my existing keyboard, mouse, external HDD, among other things. These are all 4 years old, before the time of these newer technologies, so would there be any benefit to using USB 3.0 or SATA 6Gb/s ports (whichever is applicable for the device in question) with these? Will there be faster transfer times or anything like that, or does the hardware need to be made specifically for USB 3.0 or SATA 6Gb/s?

Also, what about the front USB ports on my case, which is also 4 years old? Should they be connected to the USB 2.0 ports on the motherboard, or will they benefit from using the USB 3.0 ports?

Thanks.

 

[wolfeking]

You old hardware will not benefit at all from either tech. It will not hurt it, but you will see no improvement on it.

Your front USB ports will have to be attached to the USB 2 headers on the motherboard. It is not possible to plug them to the USB3, and you would see no increase even if it could attach. The USB2 ports are missing the extra pin of USB3 that allows the greater transfer speed.

 

[JohnJSal]

You old hardware will not benefit at all from either tech. It will not hurt it, but you will see no improvement on it.

Your front USB ports will have to be attached to the USB 2 headers on the motherboard. It is not possible to plug them to the USB3, and you would see no increase even if it could attach. The USB2 ports are missing the extra pin of USB3 that allows the greater transfer speed.

Thanks very much!