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#21
My machine also has e-SATA connected to my HBA card (advertised as SATA 3 but rated at only 5Gbps) and USB 3.0 ports. When using the external dock, e-SATA is faster. My swap bays are connected to the same card. in theory, it's possible that USB 3.0 can be faster than SATA 2.0 (3 Gbps) but in practice, it usually isn't.
As long as something's faster than the max for USB 2.0, it can be listed as USB 3.0. I have some 8GB USB sticks that aren't much faster than the top end of USB 2.0 but they are still faster than my USB 2.0 sticks and the price was right ($5). Very few USB devices deliver the max speed for the standard.