Evolution of the Floppy

A detailed Summary of Evolution of the Floppy

Computers and computer technology have come a long way since the first home computers were invented in the early 70's. Over the past 30 years, computers and their accessories have all become compact. One item that has come a long way since its invention in 1971 is the memory disk, or floppy disk as it is now called. The floppy disk was first born as an 8" plastic disk with very little memory but over time slowly got smaller. It shrunk from 8" to 5 ¼" to 3 1/2" and even to 3" but the 3" disk was discontinued. The floppy disks also increased the amount of saveable memory as they got smaller. They even became more versatile, which was appealing for computer customers in search of portable storage devices. The floppy disk forever changed the way computers were used and the way people saw computers. They made everyday computer tasks much easier for us. The floppy disk was revolutionary.

IBM introduced the very first floppy disk in 1971. This "memory disk" as it was called at that time, was an 8" plastic disk coated with magnetic iron oxide; Data was written to read from the disk's surface. The 8" plastic floppy disk was considered to be revolutionary during its time because not only was it considered to be a nice small siz

The next big breakthrough in terms of floppy disks happened in 1981, when Sony introduced the first 3 1/2" floppy drives and diskettes. The 3 1/2" floppy is the floppy which is familiar to computer users today. These much smaller, compact disks can hold a lot more information as well. Unlike the old 8" floppies of the 1970's, the 3 1/2" floppy can hold 1.4 megabytes of information in formatted mode and 2 megabytes of information in its unformatted mode. Also, because the floppies of today can hold so much more information than their old counterparts, they are used for much more tasks as well. People now store small programs on these disks, several documents, and even create boot disks with these floppies to save their personal computers from disaster. The floppies of today are very versatile and have a much larger role in computers today. The old 5 ¼" floppy disk is still used in old IBM computers today but you do not see too many of those around because most computer usage today seems to revolve around the ever growing Internet.

It is now the year 2001 and the floppy disk may now be somewhat obsolete. With the release of the recordable disk, the demand for floppies has gone down. This is because with the recordable disks you can have up to 700 megabytes of space! This is a very large amount when compared to the floppy disk's absolute maximum of 2 megabytes. These recordable disks are now looking very attractive towards today's computer audience. But the floppy has not yet been wiped out. It is still hanging in there even with its stiff competition.

Even though the floppy disk seems to slowly be fading out, what it has done for computers can never be ignored. It opened the door for the new portable storage devices that you see before you today. It practically revolutionized the way we think about computers and the heights they can reach. No matter how you look at it, the floppy disk will remain with us for a few more years to come and have its place cemented in computer history. Its true, its true.

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Category: Technology