When you transfer hundreds of photos from your flash drive to your computer before, it might take well over five minutes to finish the process. That was before when the technology used was still USB 2.0. Today, the world of storage devices have changed as Intel introduced the SuperSpeed USB 3.0.

Likewise, the move effectively opened the specification to hardware developers for implementation on future products. The first USB 3.0 ports were featured on the Asus P6X58 motherboard, but was cancelled before production.

A new major feature of the product is the SuperSpeed bus. It provides a fourth transfer mode at 4.8 gigabytes. When operating in SuperSpeed mode, full duplex signaling occurs over 2 differential pairs separate from the non-SuperSpeed differential pair. The device establishes a communication pipe between the host and each device, in a host directed protocol. In contrast, USB 2.0 broadcasts packet traffic to all devices.

USB 3.0 extends the bulk transfer type in SuperSpeed with Streams. The extension allows a host and device to create and transfer multiple streams of data through a single bulk pipe.

In terms of its availability, the USB 3.0 Hub would be made available in 2010. It was demonstrated using the VIA VL 810 chipConsumer Products. Commercial quantities are expected to be produced no later than the first quarter of 2010. NEC is aiming to product its first USB 3.0 last June 2009 which was initially priced at $15.00. And has reached close to 1,000,000 units late last year.

Meanwhile, Asus also did release their first USB 3.0 motherboard under the model P7P55D-E Premium, as well as a PCI Express x1 add-on card for existing motherboards to provide USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps support.

If the USB 3.0 goes full blast, connecting to digital cameras, printers, personal media players, flash drives, and external drives would definitely be the fastest of all-time.