page_title: Floppy disk variants
section_title: 3-inch "Compact Floppy Disk" / "CF-2" format
hierarchical_section_title: Floppy disk variants / 3-inch "Compact Floppy Disk" / "CF-2" format
caption_attribution_description: A 3-inch Compact Floppy Disk (Double-Sided), made by Hitachi-Maxell, c. 1990. Scanned by Zilog Jones.
context_page_description: The floppy disk is a data storage and transfer medium that was ubiquitous from the mid-1970s well into the 2000s. Besides the 3½-inch and 5¼-inch formats used in IBM PC compatible systems, or the 8-inch format that preceded them, many proprietary floppy disk formats were developed, either using a different disk design or special layout and encoding methods for the data held on the disk.
context_section_description: The 3-inch "Compact Floppy Disk" or "CF-2" was an intended rival to Sony's 3.5" floppy system introduced by a consortium of manufacturers led by Matsushita. Hitachi was a manufacturer of 3-inch disk drives, and stated in advertisements, "It's clear that the 3" floppy will become the new standard."
  The format was widely used by Amstrad in their CPC and PCW computers, and (after Amstrad took over manufacture of the line) the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3. It was also adopted by some other manufacturers/systems such as Sega, the Tatung Einstein, and Timex of Portugal in the FDD and FDD-3000 disk drives. Despite this, the format was not a major success.
  Three-inch diskettes bear much similarity to the 3½-inch size, but with some unique features.  One example is the more elongated plastic casing, taller than a 3½-inch disk, but less wide and thicker (i.e. with increased depth). The actual 3-inch magnetic-coated disk occupies less than 50% of the space inside the casing, the rest being used by the complex protection and sealing mechanisms implemented on the disks, which thus are largely responsible for the thickness, length, and relatively high costs of the disks. On the early Amstrad machines (the CPC line and the PCW 8256), the disks are typically flipped over to change the side (acting like 2 separate single-sided disks, comparable to the "flippy disks" of 5¼-inch media) as opposed to being contiguously double-sided. Double-sided mechanisms were introduced on the later PCW 8512 and PCW 9512, thus removing the need to remove, flip, and then reinsert the disk.
caption: A Maxell-branded 3-inch Compact Floppy Disk
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