They’re all sending digital information, but only data cables like USB/Thunderbolt can be used (as far as I know) for devices like external drives. I am not aware of any external drive that can be connected by HDMI or DisplayPort.
In: Technology
There really is not much difference from an electronic point of view. Both send millions of bits of digital information over the cable. In HDMI it’s used to form a moving picture with audio, in USB it can do that plus it can also transmit information like digital files, etc. There are differences in how the data is formatted; HDMI sends uncompressed image and audio data constantly at a more or less unchanging rate, whereas USB is more flexible and can do that or just send chunks of data as needed. HDMI is probably also rated for higher bandwidth than USB. In theory there is no reason why there couldn’t be one cable to rule them all, but HDMI was developed when USB was too slow for HD video, and even though USB has caught up, it’s not worth the hassle of changing over again.
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