Floppy disk

The floppy disk is a removable magnetic storage medium.  Floppy disks are used for moving information between computers, laptops, or other devices. Some early digital cameras, electronic music instruments and older computer game consoles use floppy disks.  Floppy disks are inserted in to a floppy disk drive or simply floppy drive to allow data to be read or stored.

Floppy disks store much less data than a CD-ROM disk or USB flash drive. A normal 3 inch disk can store 1.44 megabytes of data.  This is usually enough for simple text documents.

A special type of floppy disk was made in the late 1980s.  It could store 2.88 MB of data.  They did not become popular. Larger size floppy disks became available in the 1990s.  The two most popular were the Zip drive and the Jaz drive, both made by Iomega.

Floppy disk technology has been around since the early 1970s (the 8-inch floppy was the first). Today, floppy disks have been replaced by other storage media, like USB flash drives. Floppy disks and drives are no longer manufactured, but are still widely-available as new old stock.

In 2024, authorities in Japan stopped asking people to give documents to the government using floppy disks, because they have been replaced. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx82407j1v3o. Retrieved 2024-07-05 Starting in Spring 2025, at least one bank will say no to getting floppy disks from customers of the bank.https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/tech/2824208/japan-finally-phases-out-floppy-disks. Retrieved 2024-07-06

 The floppy drive 

A floppy drive (often called drives “A” and “B” on a computer running DOS or Windows) can be connected to or installed in a personal computer (PC). It is the part of a computer that reads and writes the disk that can be removed. A disk, often called a floppy disk, is used to store files and carry them from one computer to another by using the floppy drive. The floppy drive reads the disk (or diskette) and the user is then able to open and change the files saved on the disk.

 Capacities 
Historical sequence of floppy disk formats, including the last format to be generally adopted — the "1.44 MB" 3½-inch HD floppy, introduced 1987.Floppy disk formatYear introducedStorage capacity(binary kilobytes if not stated)Marketedcapacity8-inch (read-only)196980←8-inch1972187.51.5 Mbit8-inch1973256256 KB8-inch DD19765000.5 MB5-inch1976223←8-inch double sided197712001.2 MB5-inch DD1978360360 KB3-inchHP single sided1982280264 KB3-inch1982?360?←3-inch (DD at release)1984720720 KB5-inch QD198412001.2 MB3-inch DD1984?720?←3-inchMitsumi Quick Disk1985128 to 256←2-inch 1985?720?←5-inch Perpendicular1986?100 MiB←3-inch HD198714401.44 MB3-inch ED199128802.88 MB3-inch LS-1201996120.375 MiB120 MB3-inch LS-2401997240.75 MiB240 MB3-inch HiFD1998/99150/200 MiB? 150/200 MBAcronyms:  DD = Double Density; QD = Quad Density; HD = High Density ED = Extra-high Density; LS = Laser Servo; HiFD = High capacity Floppy DiskDates and capacities marked ? are of unclear origin and need source information; other listed capacities refer to:
 For 8-inch: standard IBM formats as used by the System/370 mainframes and newer systems
 For 5- and 3-inch: standard PC formats, capacities quoted are the total size of all sectors on the disk and include space used for the bootsector and filesystem
Other formats may get more or less capacity from the same drives and disks.

References 

Category:Storage devices