Usb 3 / Usb-C

[RSDonovan]

Hi

I have an Acer Aspire E17 laptop which the manual tells me has 2 x USB 3.0 ports (outlined in blue) and a USB-C port, as well as more USB 2 ports.

I have a couple of old 2-Terabyte USB 2 external drives and I want to upgrade them to USB 3 as I know it's a lot faster transfer rate.

Will a USB 3 drive work by simply plugging into one of the blue USB ports? Will I need to instal / upgrade any drivers? Anything else I should be aware of?

Also, can you please tell me the purpose of the USB-C port which I have?

Thanks in advance

[SlackAlice]

Your USB 3 ports are backwards compatible and should recognize your USB 2 external drives, but the connection will default to the USB 2 standard. Unlikely, your USB2 drives could be upgraded to USB3 drives without modification. Much cheaper to buy USB3 drives.

USB C port (also known as USB 3.1) is the next step up, as explained in the following link :-

https://uk.pcmag.com/laptop-how-to/40348/what-is-usb-c-an-explainer

[Buenchico]

If your existing drives use the USB2 standard you can't 'upgrade' them to USB3. You'll get USB2 data transfer speeds irrespective of whether they're plugged into a USB2 or USB3 port.

A USB3 drive will work, on a plug-&-play basis, with one of your laptop's USB3 ports.

The purpose of the USB-C port is explained here:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2488194/usb-c-explained-how-to-get-the-most-from-it-and-why-its-great.html

[SlackAlice]

^^^ snap!