The floppy disk subsystem consists of a controller card that is inserted into a slot that is connected to the expansion bus, a disk drive to read and write, and the disk itself. Moreover, a cable that connects the card to the disk drive is used to transfer information and control the systems between the two. Floppy disks are created through depositing metallic oxide material on a Mylar substrate. The oxide coating is Ferro-magnetic and responds to the magnetic fields generated by the heads of the disk drive. Because of this, a lot of care and precaution must be observed while handling floppy disks in the presence of strong magnetic fields.
Capacitance varies with the disk's formatting and the particular drive that they are used in.
Three and one half-inch disks have a hard plastic covering, whereas the five and a quarter inch disks have a flexible cardboard or plastic encasing. The actual disk is accessible in the disk drive from a metallic and movable slide. Because the disks may no longer be flexible, the term diskette is becoming more appropriate. Both formats use both sides of the disk and are known as being double-sided. Information is converted in concentric tracks that are magnetically etched by a formatting program that arrives with the operating system.