How can I upgrade my 17" Pavilion Notebook to USB 3?

[BubbaMac]

My five-years-out-of-warranty 17" Pavilion notebook running Windows 10, has three USB-2 ports .  I would like to add a USB-3 external hard drive and take advantage of the faster USB-3 data transfer rates.  Can my laptop be upgraded to USB-3?

[banhien · Accepted solution]

@BubbaMac 

Your machine is an HP Pavilion 17-g124cy, its specs

        https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c04773010

It has

• 1 multi-format SD media card reader
• 2 SuperSpeed USB 3.0, 1 supporting USB Boost (one on right and 1 on left)
  
• 1 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 (on left side, above the SD card reader and next to the USB 3.0 port)
  
• 1 HDMI
• 1 RJ-45
• 1 headphone/microphone combo

I don't think you can convert USB 2.0 to USB 3.0. Since you need more USB 3.0 port for external HDD's, you simply use a small 3, 4, 5, or 7 USB 3.0 ports hub

Regards.

[BubbaMac]

Thanks for the link to that document!  Wow!  Lot's of useful info there!  I was especially interested in seeing the description of the integrated camera.  Mine has stopped working and I can't figure how to get it started again.  I cannot find it in Device Manager and I've not known what to call the thing when I was browsing the Internet looking for a way to add it back (if possible).

It would appear that I don't need to upgrade to USB-3 since I already have TWO!  <blush!>  So I'll pick up a little USB 3 multi-port hub and swap some things around and give it a go! 

Oh, by the way ... Is there a way that I could have gotten my computer to tell me its product name?  I have since learned that it's probably in the battery compartment, but is there a way to query the computer to find out?

Thanks again!  I consider THIS problem SOLVED   

[BubbaMac]

Thanks for the link to that document!  Wow!  Lot's of useful info there!  I was especially interested in seeing the description of the integrated camera.  Mine has stopped working and I can't figure how to get it started again.  I cannot find it in Device Manager and I've not known what to call the thing when I was browsing the Internet looking for a way to add it back (if possible).

It would appear that I don't need to upgrade to USB-3 since I already have TWO!  <blush!>  So I'll pick up a little USB 3 multi-port hub and swap some things around and give it a go! 

Oh, by the way ... Is there a way that I could have gotten my computer to tell me its product name?  I have since learned that it's probably in the battery compartment, but is there a way to query the computer to find out?

Thanks again!  I consider THIS problem SOLVED