Main article: Floppy disk 8-inch, 5¼-inch, and 3½-inch floppy disks A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, readable by a floppy disk drive ( FDD and sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric which serves the purpose of keeping the data storage disk free of foreign particles such as dust.[1] The floppy disk was a revolution in the computer industry when it was developed by IBM in the late 1960s as a reliable and inexpensive method of loading microcode into their System/370 computer. Floppy disks remained a popular portable digital-storage medium for nearly 40 years after being introduced commercially in 1971.[2] Throughout the period in which floppy disks were common, they went through numerous improvements, each time significantly improving their available storage capacity and reducing their physical size as computer data storage technology advanced. Sizes ranged from 8 inches in the first commercialized floppy disk to the 3½-inch floppy disks still available today. Floppy disks slowly lost popularity as better technology developed which was able to offer higher levels of storage capacity, smaller physical characteristics, and faster processing speeds. While floppy disk drives still have some limited uses, especially with legacy industrial computer equipment, they have been superseded by data storage methods with much greater capacity such as USB flash drives, portable external hard disk drives, optical discs, memory cards, and computer networks. Contents 1 The 8-inch disk 2 The 5¼-inch minifloppy 3 The Twiggy disk 4 The 3-inch compact floppy disk 4.1 Mitsumi's Quick Disk 3-inch floppies 5 3½-inch format 5.1 Evolution 6 See also 7 References 8 Patents The 8-inch disk[edit] See also: Table of 8-inch floppy formats Drawings from IBM Floppy Disk Drive Patents In 1967, IBM tasked their San.
Sony MPF920- Z/ CU1 Internal 3.5 Floppy Drive Specification : 1.44 MB capacity * EIDE interface * Data transfer rates up to 12 MBps * Rugged die-cast frame *.
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