USB 2.0 vs. 3.0: Is it worth the upgrade?

I'm looking at picking up a 16GB thumb drive, but I keep seeing these labels 2.0 and ..
What's the actual deal with them? I'm guessing it’s just some kind of data transfer speed thing, right?

Honestly, it really doesn't matter which one you end up grabbing because a 3.0 drive will work just fine on a 2.0 port. People get hung up on those version numbers, but they’re essentially just speed ratings, and if your computer is stuck with an older USB 2.0 setup, a 3.0 flash drive will simply scale its performance down to match that 2.0 limit. You can't really make a mistake by opting for the 3.0 model, since those drives are designed to be backward compatible with both 3.0 and 2.0 standards.

The only catch—and it's a minor one, really—is that a USB 2.0 drive can't suddenly decide to run at 3.0 speeds; it's strictly limited to its own 2.0 specifications regardless of what port you plug it into.

Tapatalk 2 using mobile - Apple Watch

Aha, so that’s how it works. Everything clicks now.
Thanks

If you notice any blue coloring inside those USB ports—whether they're on the back of the motherboard or right on the front of the case—that’s your signal that you've got USB 3.0 capability. You can go ahead and grab a 3.0 flash drive to take advantage of those much faster speeds... Just thought I'd let you know. 😁

Alternatively, you could just grab a PCI USB 3.0 expansion card to get those high speeds on your desktop...
Something like this: