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Speed comparison between USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, Firewire and Thunderbolt

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 2026500462 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

Which external connection has the highest data throughput with respect to the headers used? I would appreciate a slowest to fastest list including USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, eSATA and Thunderbolt considering bandwidth that is consumed by command and control (reducing the data bandwidth availability).

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Fix for: Speed comparison between USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, Firewire and Thunderbolt

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The theoretical maximums are as follows: In bits per second, that is: USB 1.1 = 12 Mbit/s Firefire 400 = 400 Mbit/s USB 2.0 = 480 Mbit/s FireWire 800 = 800 Mbit/s USB 3.0 = 5 Gbit/s USB 3.1 = 10 Gbit/s eSATA = Up to 6 Gbit/s (750 MB/s) right now as it depend on the internal SATA chip. Thunderbolt = 10 Gbit/s × 2 (2 channels) Thunderbolt 2 = 20 Gbit/s Thunderbolt 3 = 40 Gbit/s In Bytes per second, that is: USB 1.1 = 1.5 MB/s Firefire 400 = 50 MB/s USB 2.0 = 60 MB/s FireWire 800 = 100 MB/s USB 3.…

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