EliteBook 8570p / USB 3.0 ports

[DDBrunnenmeyer]

Product Number:  C6Z59UT#ABA

Serial Number:  5CB3031ZLT

System Board;  17A7 KBC Version 42.37

BIOS Version:  68ICF Ver. F.46

Does this machine support USB 3.0 drives or not?  When I first got it, the specs said it would, but then it would whine and tell me that the USB drive would perform better if I plugged it into a USB 3.0 port.  This would be the case regardless of which port I plugged it into.

I haven't seen those warnings lately. So here are my questions:

1. Does this machine actually have USB 3.0 ports ???

2. If so, which ports are they..the two on the left at the rear or the two on the right at the front ???

Thanks in advance for your comments and answers.

Dennis....

[DecTech--]

Dennis,

The service guide for your model indicates that your USB ports on left side are 2.0 and USB ports on right side are 3.0.

The right side ports are grouped together and have a USB symbol with "SS" in front of it.

I hope this helps!

Regards,

Louis

[DDBrunnenmeyer]

thanks for your response. Yes, I read that document a long time ago, but at the time, the laptop used to "tell me" that my drive would perform better if I used a USB 3.0 port, even when plugged into ports on either side. Now I get no warnings of this kind regardless of which port I connect to.

For what it's woth, I see no performance differences, though I haven't tried exhaustive testing.

I guess I shouldn't worry about it, but this is a mystery that I'd like to solve. Is there any way to actuall y text a port for this?

Dennis...

[DecTech--]

If you would google USB 3.0 vs USB 2.0....or something like that, you would find that the USB 3.0 ports are physically different. If I remember correctly the ports are deeper and have additional connections. To get the benifit of those ports (speed) you would need a USB 3.0 cable and a device capable of supporting 3.0.

If you plug in a USB 2.0 cable into a 3.0 port the cable WILL not go in far enough to engage the additional connections, hence you would still be running at USB 2.0 standard.

I don't know if this is standard but the USB 3.0 port I saw was "blue" in color.

Regards,

Louis