What Is a Floppy Disk?

What Is a Floppy Disk?

A floppy disk is a magnetic storage medium for computer systems. The floppy disk is composed of a thin, flexible magnetic disk sealed in a square plastic carrier. In order to read and write data from a floppy disk, a computer system must have a floppy disk drive (FDD). A floppy disk is also referred to simply as a floppy. Since the early days of personal computing, floppy disks were widely used to distribute software, transfer files, and create back-up copies of data. When hard drives were still very expensive, floppy disks were also used to store the operating system of a computer.

A number of different types of floppy disks have been developed. The size of the floppy got smaller, and the storage capacity increased. However, in the 1990s, other media, including hard disk drives, ZIP drives, optical drives, and USB flash drives, started to replace floppy disks as the primary storage medium.

  

A floppy disk commonly came in three sizes, 8 inches, 5.5 inches and 3.5 inches, becoming smaller as the technology advanced. The newer, 3.5-inch version used more cutting-edge technology and held more data than previous models, while the original 8-inch floppy drive was developed to load hardware-level instructions and/or data structures called microcode into the IBM System/370 mainframe. The 8-inch flexible diskette was read-only, held 80 kilobytes of memory and was referred to as a memory disk. Eight-inch floppy drives did not connect to the motherboard, but rotated on a turntable that was run by an idler wheel.

As the floppy disk advanced to a smaller 5.5- and 3.5-inch designs, the FDD changed as well. To accommodate a smaller floppy disk, an FDD had to make aggressive changes by matching the size of the floppy disk drive opening to the size of the floppy disk for compatibility. For many years, the majority of PCs and notebooks had a floppy drive. Using a floppy disk to exchange data between PCs was a standard method for many computer technicians. The floppy disk was one of the most common ways to store adequate amounts of data outside of a computer's hard drive for personal use because they were inexpensive and easy to carry.

As technology advanced, floppy disks were finally able to read and write. By this point, FDDs had four basic components:

1.     Magnetic read/write heads (one or two)

2.     A spindle clamping device that held the disk in place as it was spinning 300 to 360 rotations per minute

3.     A frame with levers that opened and closed the device

4.     A circuit board that contained all of the electronics.

The read/write heads could read both sides of a disk, and the same head was used for reading and writing. A separate, wider head was used for erasing data to ensure that all data was erased without having to interfere with the data already on the adjacent track.

A floppy drive cable could house two drives. In a computer system, the drive at the end of the cable was drive A. When another drive was added, it was connected to the middle of the cable and was called drive B.

Floppy drives are mostly a hardware device of the past. Newer hardware devices have been introduced, including ZIP drives, CDs and USB. Today, floppy drives are usually not included on a PC, notebook or laptop.

Types of Floppy disks

The first floppy disks that came on the market were 8 inches (200 mm) in diameter. The disk was protected by a flexible plastic jacket. An 8-inch disk back in the late 1970s could store about 1 MB of data. This was quickly followed by a smaller version of the same design, the 5.25-inch (133 mm) floppy, which could store about the same amount of information using higher-density media and recording techniques.

In the early 1980s, the 3.5-inch (90 mm) floppy, or micro floppy, came on the market, and this type became the dominant storage medium for personal computers for many years. Each of these floppy disks required a different type of floppy disk drive. These were typically built into the computer case itself.

Floppy disks were quite vulnerable. The disk medium was very sensitive to dust, moisture, and heat. The flexible plastic carrier was also not very sturdy. The hard plastic case of the 3.5-inch floppy presented a substantial improvement in this respect. The most common format of this floppy became the double-sided, high-density 1.44 MB disk drive.

Anatomy of a Floppy

Now, let's look at the internal components of the floppy. The magnetic-coated plastic disk is the actual storage medium. Data is written in sectors, which makes it possible to properly read and write data. The magnetic-coated plastic disk is protected by a polyester sheet that reduces friction against the disk media as it rotates within the plastic housing.

When removed from the floppy disk drive, a metal shutter protects the surface. Inside the floppy disk drive, this shutter is moved to the side in order to read and write data on the magnetic disk. To rotate the disk, the hub of the floppy engages with the drive motor. A little hole in the plastic housing identifies the particular disk as a high-capacity one. A small write protection tab in the top left corner could be used to switch between read/write or read-only mode.

Related Posts:

Advantages of Floppy Disk Drive

Brief History Floppy Disk Drive 

Disadvantages of Floppy Disk Drive

What is Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

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