(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Floppy Disk


There was one small problem with the 8- disks though. They didn't have a very large memory capacity. The maximum amount of information one of these disks could hold was 200K of data, which when you think about it, isn't very much at all. Some e-mail letters are even larger!.
             Just five years after the invention of the 8- Floppy disk, a new floppy had been invented. In 1976, the 5 ¼- floppy disk and drive had been created by Alan Shugart and his team of IBM engineers. Mr. Shugart had taken on the project of creating a smaller floppy disk and drive for Wang Laboratories, Wang wanted a smaller floppy disk and drive to use with their desktop computers. It didn't take long for other manufacturers to pick up on this new and wonderful product. By 1978, more than 10 manufacturers were producing 5 ¼- floppy drives for computers. These new, smaller, and much more convenient floppies quickly made the old 8- floppy obsolete. However, this floppy disk would not last too long. The 5 ¼- floppy disk was somewhat of an odd size and would quickly became obsolete.
             The next big breakthrough in terms of floppy disks happened in 1981, when Sony introduced the first 3 ½- floppy drives and diskettes. The 3 ½- 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 ½- 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.


Essays Related to Floppy Disk


Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question