If we think back a few years as to how we used to listen to music or play computer games, cassettes, walkman, CD-ROM and SD cards come to mind. Vinyl records have made it, they have had a comeback. Today, music lovers run to record stores and get dusty record players working. But what about disks that were used from the 70s onwards? Are these small data carriers completely extinct or will there possibly be a revival?
Floppy disks – this is how historical data carriers work
Floppy disks are magnetic data carriers consisting of flexible plastic discs enclosed in a rectangular and portable plastic housing. The case is usually made of a flexible plastic that protects the storage medium from scratches or other damage.
Writing as well as reading of information takes place through the floppy disk drive. Here, a write or read head touches the contained magnetized plastic disk. By changing the direction of the magnetic charges in the drive, which is called flux change, information can be stored and later also read.
In principle, the small storage media are similar to the way a hard disk works, as they are also made of magnetic material, such as iron oxide.
Each storage medium contains a write protection mechanism, which can be seen as a kind of notch or also protection hole mostly at the upper right corner. This prevents data from being changed or even unintentionally deleted.
An insight into the storage capacity of the diskette
In the early 70s the first floppy disk drives were sold. For a while, the compact data carriers for PCs were used to install software, exchange documents or even set up complete operating systems. Due to the affordable prices, many private individuals used the small, practical data storage devices and the corresponding drives for their PCs.
In the course of time, however, they were replaced by media such as CDs, DVDs and above all USB sticks. This is partly due to the faster data transfer, but also to the significantly higher storage capacities.
A format of 3.5 inches (approx. 9 cm) had established itself as the standard. With this size, the very common storage capacity of 1.44 MB was created. But there were also a number of other formats. Take a look at the possible storage capacities:
Other formats, such as 2”, 3.25 ” or even 4” could never establish themselves.
The memory sizes seem nostalgically small when you think of our USB sticks today. For comparison: Our current USB sticks sold on the market have typical memory sizes of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB or even 128GB and more.
Why is the floppy disk also called floppy disk?
In 1969 the inventor and computer pioneer Alan Shugart made a breakthrough with the so-called “floppy disk“. This was an 8 inch floppy disk that could be used together with a floppy drive. In the beginning it had a storage capacity of 180 KB and later 1 MB.
Because it was particularly flexible, it was also called a floppy. Because floppy disks can also be translated as flexible, soft or even as “wobbly disk“. This also distinguishes it from a “hard disk” or hard disk drive, where the information is written to fixed and rotating disks.
As a result, other floppy disks in various sizes and with different storage capacities were developed, such as a 5.25 inch floppy disk with 1.2 MB and a 3.5 inch floppy disk with up to 1.44 MB storage capacity. The reason for the smaller dimensions, but at the same time higher storage capacities, is the optimization of the materials. They contained better magnetic properties and thus a higher storage density.
Is there a comeback?
With 1.4 MB, the small data carrier does not exactly shine. Because the storage capacities and possibilities for use are not really high. Moreover, some manufacturers claimed that the small storage media have a life span of up to 100 years. In reality, however, it turned out that they only last about 30 years.
For a while there were considerations to use the storage media in the music industry. However, they are not particularly suitable for music playback. Since there were no special playback devices, it was usually necessary to use a drive in the computer. Furthermore, the sound quality was not convincing.
Due to the small format of only 1.44 MB, the floppy disks or floppies are therefore more suitable as a nostalgic, small eye-catcher on a shelf or as an exhibit in a museum, which reminds one of exciting times with many technical innovations. The floppy disk is therefore probably not a storage medium of the future.
