I might back up a couple hundred GB twice a year using USB. I start it and come back later. The increase in speed is pretty insubstantial compared to 1.0 to 2.0.
Why don’t people just use ethernet drives? Too expensive?
Cuz then you’d have a gigabit link.
I move a lot of multi-gigabyte video files around all the time. The increase in speed is substantial for me.
But I’d still prefer the next FireWire. The protocols were designed for high-speed from the ground-up, while USB was designed for low-speed, but had high-speed tacked on. It’s also not host-based, so it doesn’t require a computer and thus no CPU or main memory. It also carries more power (you can run a desktop hard drive without a power brick).