USB 2.0/3.0 Cable Compatibility

[Stepper]

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Hello all,
This is my first post here as I am a new owner of a Thinkpad X220.
And I love it so much that within days of purchase I decided to buy my wife a matching X120e!

Anyway, I am a photographer/graphics designer and I will be using my X220 on the road quite a bit working with 8gb CF cards and a 1tb WD external HD. I had just ordered an AKE Expresscard 54 USB 3.0 adapter and was wondering if I could get a few things cleared up concerning cord compatibility.

I plan on ordering some custom made cables and I would like to keep them as short and clutter free as possible.
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Are USB 2.0 cables compatible with 3.0?
Also, is it possible to use a "Y" splitter cable to feed both the CF Reader and HD into one USB 3.0 slot?

Thanks in advance for any replies.
Jason

[visionviper]

Are USB 2.0 cables compatible with 3.0?
Also, is it possible to use a "Y" splitter cable to feed both the CF Reader and HD into one USB 3.0 slot?

No, USB 3 has more pins. If you use a USB 2 cable on a USB 3 port it would just be like using a USB 2 port.

Yes, it would work the same as any other hub. Will you get a perfect clean y cable like you can with audio cables? No. There are some electronics that go into making a hub for USB.