Floppy disk
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Floppy disk (or a 3½ Floppy for today's standard) is a storage media mainly used for computers and laptops. A floppy drive is the part of the computer that allows the floppy disk to be read by the computer.
Floppy disks cannot store as much data as a CD-ROM but they are smaller. A current 3½ inch floppy can take 1.44 Megabytes of data. This is usually enough for text documents. Special floppies were made to hold 2.88 MB of data, but they were not commonly available.
Floppies have been around since the early 70s (known as the 8-inch then) and the latest one is still being used today which was made in 1991.
Today, they are gradually replaced my other storage media, like memory sticks. A few years ago, the Zip Disk was made as a replacement for floppies.
[edit] Capacities
| Floppy disk format | Year introduced | Storage capacity (binary kilobytes if not stated) |
Marketed capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8-inch (read-only) | 1969 | 80 | ← |
| 8-inch | 1972 | 187.5 | 1.5 Mbit |
| 8-inch | 1973 | 256 | 256 KB |
| 8-inch DD | 1976 | 500 | 0.5 MB |
| 5¼-inch | 1976 | 223 | ← |
| 8-inch double sided | 1977 | 1200 | 1.2 MB |
| 5¼-inch DD | 1978 | 360 | 360 KB |
| 3½-inch HP single sided |
1982 | 280 | 264 KB |
| 3-inch | 1982? | 360? | ← |
| 3½-inch (DD at release) | 1984 | 720 | 720 KB |
| 5¼-inch QD | 1984 | 1200 | 1.2 MB |
| 3-inch DD | 1984? | 720? | ← |
| 3-inch Mitsumi Quick Disk |
1985 | 128 to 256 | ← |
| 2-inch | 1985? | 720? | ← |
| 5¼-inch Perpendicular | 1986? | 100 MiB | ← |
| 3½-inch HD | 1987 | 1440 | 1.44 MB |
| 3½-inch ED | 1991 | 2880 | 2.88 MB |
| 3½-inch LS-120 | 1996 | 120.375 MiB | 120 MB |
| 3½-inch LS-240 | 1997 | 240.75 MiB | 240 MB |
| 3½-inch HiFD | 1998/99 | 150/200 MiB? | 150/200 MB |
| Acronyms: DD = Double Density; QD = Quad Density; HD = High Density ED = Extended Density; LS = Laser Servo; HiFD = High capacity Floppy Disk | |||
Dates and capacities marked ? are of unclear origin and need source information; other listed capacities refer to:
Other formats may get more or less capacity from the same drives and disks. |
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