USB 3.0 cable question

[Namtaro]

Quick question - I bought a USB 3.0 External Drive, but currently I only have USB 2.0 Devices (5 dollars more for a little bit of futureproofing). Only thing is, the cable they included is kindof clunky as the end that connects to the computer has 2 USB ports, one for 'additional power'. I've been connecting only one of them and everything's been working fine.

So I've noticed the harddrive end's cable looks a lot like a micro usb plug and a big of googling tells me that the extra stuff are only for USB 3.0. Could I use a USB 2.0 cable instead of the USB 3.0 cable?

 

[Quartz-1]

No, the HDD end is USB 3 specific. The other end will plug into any USB 2 port just fine. USB 3 cards are cheap, so get one and enjoy the speed boost.

 

[evilsofa]

And the speed boost between 2.0 and 3.0 is significant enough to cater to it. In real-life tests, it's around 3 to 4 times faster.