![]() They all shared a number of advantages over the old format, including a rigid case with a sliding write protection tab, protecting them from damage the large market share of the 5 1⁄ 4-inch format made it difficult for these new formats to gain significant market share. A number of solutions were developed, with drives at 2, 2 1⁄ 2, 3 and 3 1⁄ 2 inches (and Sony's 90.0 mm × 94.0 mm disk) offered by various companies. Originally designed to be more practical than the 8-inch format, it was itself too large as the quality of recording media grew, data could be stored in a smaller area. Throughout the early 1980s, limitations of the 5 1⁄ 4-inch format became clear. In 1988 IBM introduced a drive for 2.88 MB "DSED" diskettes in its top-of-the-line PS/2 models but this was a commercial failure. ![]() These disk drives could be added to older PC models. IBM started using the 720 kB double density 3.5" microfloppy disk on its Convertible laptop computer and the 1.44 MB high density version with the PS/2 line in 1986. In 1984, IBM introduced the 1.2 MB dual sided floppy disk along with its AT model. The 5 1/4 inch format displaced the 8-inch one for most applications, and the hard sectored disk format disappeared. There were competing floppy disk formats, with hard and soft sector versions and encoding schemes such as FM, MFM and GCR. By 1978 there were more than 10 manufacturers producing such FDDs. In 1976, Shugart Associates introduced the first 5 1⁄ 4-inch FDD. The term "floppy disk" appeared in print as early as 1970, and although in 1973 IBM announced its first media as "Type 1 Diskette" the industry continued to use the terms "floppy disk" or "floppy". These disks and associated drives were produced and improved upon by IBM and other companies such as Memorex, Shugart Associates, and Burroughs Corporation. ![]() The earliest floppy disks, developed in the late 1960s, were 8 inches (200 mm) in diameter they became commercially available in 1971. 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floppy disk drives still have some limited uses, especially with legacy industrial computer equipment, they have been superseded by data storage methods with much greater capacity, such as USB flash drives, portable external hard disk drives, optical discs, memory cards, and computer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. īy 2010, computer motherboards were rarely manufactured with floppy drive support 3 1⁄ 2" floppies could be used as an external USB drive, but 5 1⁄ 4", 8", and non-standard drives could only be handled by old equipment. They are read and written by a floppy disk drive (FDD).įloppy disks, initially as 8-inch (200 mm) media and later in 5.25-inch (133 mm) and 3.5-inch (89 mm) sizes, were an ubiquitous form of data storage and exchange from the mid-1970s well into the first decade of the 21st century. 8-inch, 5 1⁄ 4-inch (full height), and 3 1⁄ 2-inch drivesĪ floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles.
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