How to find USB 3.0 ports?

I keep hearing people say that they get good transfer speeds while dealing with the content stored in their USB devices from their computers "sometimes" and do not in the other unfortunate times. Until a while ago, I may also be counted among such. Even though I was guessing that it had to be related to the ports or USB 3.0 vs 2.0, I did not bother to find out the details behind. Now is the time to unlock what those "sometimes" are!

USB 3.0 offers betters speeds over 2.0. Obvious but this is a point to be noted. Those "sometimes" might have been those occasions when the USB device is plugged into the computer through a USB 3.0 enabled port. The question that comes next is how do you determine if a USB port on your computer (desktop or laptop) or your USB device/cable can support 3.0 or 2.0.

Following are few ways to determine if the USB is 3.0 or 2.0:

1. Check if there is "SS" symbol on the port or the cable.
   
   
   
   
   
   If so, then the port or the cable is 3.0 enabled.
   
   
2. Check if there is blue color inside the port or on the cable.
   
   
   
   USB 3.0 ports are blue colored and USB 2.0 ports are grey although it may not be the case always.
   
   
3. Another phenomenon seen commonly in the case of laptops and worth noting is that USB 3.0 ports are found on the left side.
   
   
4. Follow the below procedure:
   
   
   • Right-click on "Computer" icon
   • Select "Manage"
   • Select "Device Manager"
   • Look under "Universal Serial Bus controllers"
   
   If you see entries with "USB 3.0" text, it means you have USB 3.0 enabled ports on your computer. Note that this does not determine which of the ports is 3.0 and which not though.

In the process of figuring out, I've found an article providing a nice summary of different kinds of ports at http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/pc-ports-explained-get-to-know-the-back-of-your-computer-2/.