Floppy drives and floppy disks. Information carrier floppy disk

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One of the oldest devices for storing information on a personal computer is a floppy disk drive, or FDD (Floppy Disk Drive) for short. This device, widely used during the 1970s-2000s, is now rarely seen in modern computers. However, in some cases you can still see a floppy drive installed in an old PC. In addition, external floppy drives are sometimes used, connected to the computer through I/O ports.

The first floppy disk drive and floppy disk were 8 inches wide and were invented by engineer Alan Shugart, who worked at IBM, in the early 1970s. In the mid-1970s, he also developed a 5.25-inch floppy disk and a drive for reading it. In 1981, Sony developed a floppy disk and a 3.5-inch drive. Initially, the capacity of such a floppy disk was 720 KB, but later its capacity was doubled.

Repeated attempts have been made to improve floppy disks based on the 3.5-inch format. For example, in 1987, a 2.88 MB floppy disk drive was developed, and in the late 1990s. – LS-120 standard with an even larger disk capacity of 120 MB. However, all these modifications have not become widespread, largely due to the high cost of drives and media.

Principle of operation

FDDs operate in many ways similar to hard drives. Inside a floppy disk, just like inside a hard drive, there is a flat disk with a magnetic layer applied to it, and information from the disk is read using a magnetic head. However, there are also differences. First of all, a floppy disk is not made of a hard material, but of a flexible polymer film, similar to magnetic tape. That is why disks of this type are called flexible. In addition, the floppy disk does not rotate constantly, but only when a request is received from the operating system to read information.

The advantage of FDD over a hard drive is media removability. However, floppy drive also has many disadvantages. In addition to the extremely low operating speed, this is also low reliability of information storage, as well as low storage capacity - approximately 1.44 MB for 3.5-inch floppy disks. True, when using non-standard formatting methods, the capacity of a floppy disk can be slightly increased, but, as a rule, this leads to an even greater decrease in recording reliability.

Varieties

Personal computers such as the IBM PC used two main types of FDD - 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch. Both types of drives are designed to accommodate floppy disks of different types and sizes and are incompatible with each other. This situation is different from that of optical drives, which can read both 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch disks. At one time there were also 8-inch FDDs, but already in the 80s. Such drives have fallen out of use. Around the 1990s. 5.25-inch drives have also finally gone out of use. 3.5-inch floppy drives lasted longer, until the end of the 2000s, and even now you can occasionally see them here and there.

Comparative sizes of internal 8, 5.25, and 3.5-inch drives

Examples of Floppy drives in order of priority: 8-inch, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch

The 5.25-inch floppy disk is a disk in a cardboard case, reminiscent of an envelope, and has a slot for the read head. Such a floppy disk fully justifies its name “flexible”, since its body can be bent by hand without much effort. However, it is not recommended to intentionally bend the floppy disk too much, as this will almost inevitably lead to its failure.

The 3.5-inch floppy disk does not have this drawback. It has a magnetic disk enclosed in a hard plastic case and bending it with your hands is not so easy. In addition, the 3.5-inch floppy disk has a special metal curtain that hides the slot for the read head. Another feature of a floppy disk is the presence of a switch that blocks writing to the disk. A standard 3.5-inch floppy disk has a capacity of 1.44 MB, which is larger than the maximum capacity of a 5.25-inch floppy disk, which is 1.2 MB.

Examples of floppies are from left to right 8, 5.25, and 3.5.

The design of the 3.5" FDD is also different from the 5.25" one. If, when inserting a floppy disk into the slot of a 5.25-inch drive, the user needs to fix the floppy disk by turning the lever, then the 3.5-inch diskette is locked in the drive automatically, and the floppy disk is ejected back using a special button.

As with many other drives, there are mobile versions of floppy drives - external floppy drives. An external floppy drive is convenient because it does not take up space in the system unit, especially if the need to use floppy disks arises rarely. Such an FDD drive can be connected to a PC using a USB connector or an LPT connector.

Application

Although hard drives appeared in the first IBM-compatible personal computers, nevertheless, not a single computer could do without a device for removable drives. A similar device was the floppy drive, which quickly gained popularity due to the simplicity and low cost of both the drive itself and the storage media - floppy disks.

However, in some cases, a floppy drive could completely replace a hard drive. When the author of these lines got his first IBM-compatible computer, it did not have a hard drive, much less an optical drive, but only a 3.5-inch floppy drive and a set of floppy disks with software provided by the PC seller. The computer was fully functional. Of course, there was no talk of using Windows 3, or of running any large programs, but when using MS-DOS it was possible to deal with most of the programs and games existing at that time (early 90s). This suggests that floppy disks are capable of satisfying the user's basic information storage needs. In addition, floppy disks were once indispensable when it was necessary to reboot the computer for a maintenance check or install a new OS.

Setting up a floppy drive in the BIOS

There are several options in the BIOS that allow you to configure floppy drive settings. For example, the option allows you to disable the floppy drive controller if it is not used in the system, thereby freeing one system interrupt. Also, in some BIOSes, you can manually set the type and size of the drive media, as well as set the write ban on floppy disks.

Conclusion

Today, many users may not even know what a floppy drive or even a regular floppy disk looks like. Their functions were taken over by memory cards and flash drives. In most system units, the only reminder of a floppy drive is the 3-inch external bay left for them, and in Windows operating systems, the unused first letters of logical drives (A and B), reserved for floppy drives. However, floppy disk drives are often found in older computers. In addition, floppy drives can be useful when booting a PC for the purpose of carrying out preventative maintenance of the computer or when installing an OS.

Diskette

plastic cassette envelope with flexible magnetic disk(floppy disk); a device for long-term storage of information and, if necessary, transferring it from one computer to another. A modern 3.5-inch floppy disk contains a flexible disk made of artificial film - Mylar with a magnetic coating. To read and write information, the floppy disk is placed in a special electronic-mechanical device - drive. Almost all models of modern personal computers are equipped with drives for 3.5-inch floppy disks. The floppy disk has a central hole for pairing with the floppy drive and a rectangular cutout for access to the disk magnetic read and write heads, covered with a metal curtain. The floppy disk is divided into concentric tracks, each of which, in turn, is divided into sectors. There are 80 magnetic recording tracks on the surface of a floppy disk. Recording is done on both sides of the floppy disk surface. The standard capacity of a floppy disk is 1.44 MB. Used in the 1980s. floppy disks size 5.25 inches (133 mm) to gray. 1990s have fallen out of use. Information can be written to a floppy disk repeatedly, which is why floppy disks are widely used, despite their insufficient and relatively small capacity. Before using a floppy disk for the first time, it must be initialized (formatted). This operation is performed using a special program. When formatting, the floppy disk's writability is checked. Many manufacturers sell floppy disks that are already formatted.

Encyclopedia "Technology". - M.: Rosman. 2006 .

Synonyms:

See what a “floppy disk” is in other dictionaries:

3.5″ ... Wikipedia

- [English] discette Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

FLOppy DISK, portable MAGNETIC DISK for personal COMPUTERS. The outside is covered with a plastic shell. The size of a floppy disk is traditionally calculated in inches, they are either 3.5 inches (7.9 cm) or, less commonly, 5.25 inches (13.3 cm) in diameter.... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

Floppy disk, cassette, an envelope with a flexible magnetic disk. There is a hole in the center of the floppy disk for mounting on a floppy drive. It is used mainly in personal computers for recording and storing information, including programs... Modern encyclopedia

Cassette is an envelope with a flexible magnetic disk (floppy disk). There is a hole in the center of the floppy disk for mounting on a floppy drive. It is used mainly in personal computers for storing information, including programs... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

DISKETTE, s, female (specialist.). Flexible magnetic disk, a storage medium for computer processing. Soft, hard d. | adj. floppy, oh, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Noun, number of synonyms: 4 butyavka (1) disk (28) floppy disks (1) ... Synonym dictionary

diskette- y, w. disquette f., English diskette inf. Flexible magnetic disk storage medium for computer processing. Krysin 1998. From now on, those who want to quickly get to their bosses for an appointment bring the computerized young lady not a chocolate bar, but a magnetic one... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

diskette- floppy disk and obsolete floppy disks, m... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language

diskette- A miniature magnetic disk placed in a protective envelope. [GOST 25868 91] Equipment topics. periphery processing systems information EN diskette... Technical Translator's Guide

Floppy disk, or floppy disk, magnetic disk on which files (text, graphics, etc.) are stored or transferred from one computer to another. Text or graphic files can be submitted to the publishing house by the author as an original, if it has ... Publishing dictionary-reference book

Books

Computer modeling of semiconductor systems in MatLab 6. 0 + floppy disk, S. G. German-Galkin. The proposed book examines the practical use of MatLab 6.0 for solving problems in the design of semiconductor electric drive systems. A tutorial for technical…
Collection of job descriptions (+ floppy disk), S. M. Grachev. The book is a collection of sample instructions for industry-wide positions of managers, specialists, workers, as well as types of activities of enterprises and organizations. To the collection...

Despite the end of the floppy disk era, 3.5 floppy disks are still used in everyday life.

Let's take a closer look at where they can be found, what's special about them and why the floppy disk is still one of the most popular means of transmitting secret information.

Contents:

Basic concepts and history of use

Floppy disk is a physical storage medium with which data can be moved, erased, or rewritten many times.

In simple words, this is a simplified version of modern flash drives and disk drives.

The floppy disk was the first to appear.

Externally, the device has a rectangular shape and a plastic case. A ferrimagnetic layer is applied on top, with the help of which the floppy drive reads information. You can't read a floppy disk using . To do this you will need a special floppy drive.

Today it can only be found in older desktop computers. Typically the drive is located at the bottom of the case and has the following form:

The first floppy disk was created in 1967 by Alan Shugart- at that time one of the leading specialists at IBM. Before 1076, Shugart created and developed his own company, which began supplying storage drives to computer system developers. This began the era of using floppy disks. The most popular floppy disk format was developed by Sony in 1981. A drive with a diameter of 3.5 inches can still be found in stores. Also, it is this type of floppy disk that is recognizable. In most programs, a key with a 3.5-inch floppy disk icon means saving actions.

Floppy disks were common among users from the 70s to the 90s of the last century.

With the invention of optical disks, the popularity of floppy disks gradually began to decline. As you know, optical discs are already being removed from use today.

Many manufacturers of laptops and personal computers have completely abandoned the use of disk drives.

Despite this, floppy disks are still produced and sold.

With the onset of the 2010s, all global IT corporations began to abandon the production of floppy disks.

For example, in 2011 Sony announced that it would completely stop creating and selling 3.5-inch floppy disks.

Now they can only be manufactured by order of the government.

Other cases of failure of floppy disks:

year 2014– Toshiba announced the closure of its disk manufacturing plant. That same year, the plant was converted into a huge organic vegetable farm;
2015– developers from Microsoft decided not to create support for floppy disks in . This OS does not work with floppy disks and it will be impossible to connect an external drive. The system simply “will not see” the device;
2016- The Pentagon drew up a modernization plan, one of the goals of which was to abandon the use of floppy disks. The plan is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018.

Floppy disk formats

Types of floppy disks are divided depending on the diameter of the drive. Over the entire period of floppy disk distribution The following formats existed:

8-inch;

The first type of floppy disk that became widespread among PC users was the eight-inch drive.

Externally, it has a rectangular shape and is made of polymer materials.

The magnetic mechanism itself is located inside a plastic case. Inside there is a special recess with which the drive reads information from. After the drive starts up, the device reads the location of the first track. This is how the process of “decrypting” information from the floppy disk begins.

An eight-inch floppy disk can have a capacity of 80 KB, 256 KB, or 800 KB. Over time, such a volume of information even became insufficient, so the development of floppy disks with a larger volume began.

5.25 inches;

This generation of floppy disks is practically no different in appearance from eight-inch drives.

The only difference- improved index holes for data reading.

Thanks to the use of new technology for creating material for the case, the disc was preserved for a longer time and was resistant to scratches and drops from low heights.

These types of floppy disks were either single-sided or double-sided. To start using the additional side, you just had to turn the drive over. On single-sided models, this action could thin out the drive.

5.25-inch floppy disks could store 110 KB, 360 KB, 720 KB, or 1200 KB of information.

The production of such floppy disks ended in the early 2000s.

3.5 inches;

The 3.5-inch floppy disk is the most popular floppy drive option.

Externally, it differs from previous generations with an even more durable body, as well as a completely solid surface.

In this type of floppy disk, it became possible to install .

it can be configured by the floppy disk user before the first recording of information to removable media.

The capacity of a 3.5 floppy disk is determined by the square holes in the lower right corner of the device. One square - capacity 720 KB, two - 1.44 MB and three - 2.88 MB.

Despite all the disadvantages of using floppy disks, namely low capacity and sensitivity to the influence of magnetic fields, the 3.5 floppy disk was popular even after the release of optical disks.

All because of the convenience of data transfer and the cheap cost of floppy disks and disk drives.

Iomega Zip.

This type of drive became intermediate between the eras of floppy disks and optical disks.

Externally, Iomega looks like a floppy disk, but the device's body is flexible.

Due to its high cost and lack of manufacturer interest in such a floppy disk, Iomega never became more popular than standard 3.5-inch floppy disks.

Iomega capacity reached 750 MB.

Also, the device was distinguished by high speed of reading and processing data.

Why is a floppy disk needed today?

Despite the widespread belief that the era of floppy disks is over, you can still encounter floppy disks in many areas.

In the CIS, floppy disks are still used in government agencies to record citizens' data.

Eg, tax departments store data about taxpayers in the form of floppy disks. The use of such an outdated drive is explained by the fact that they still store records from 10 or even 20 years ago. Information does not transfer to newer devices due to lack of funding or lack of new computers.

Also, 3.5-inch floppy disks are used in schools.

Floppy drives are still common in any computer science classroom.

Students bring their homework and hand it in to the teacher. This property is not typical for all, but for most schools. This is explained by outdated equipment.

Floppy disks 3.5 and Pentagon

One of the most interesting uses of floppy disks in the modern world is the Pentagon.

The most high-tech and popular state-level security center still works with ordinary floppy disks.

Of course, Pentagon employees do not store absolutely all information on floppy disks.

According to the organization's 2015 official report, floppy disks work as an additional method of protecting information.

They store data on nuclear weapons and other secret information.

To read and process data, the Pentagon uses old models of computers that do not have and operate without being connected to any networks.

This approach eliminates the possibility of an “over-the-air” hacker attack, which the Pentagon has encountered countless times.

According to the US Department of Defense plan, floppy disks should be phased out at the Pentagon by the end of 2018. It is reported that to increase the level of security of secret data, it is planned to introduce ultra-resistant algorithms and constant monitoring without using the Internet.

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The evolution of the modern floppy disk

Most of the technologies used in personal computers were developed either after the advent of PCs or specifically for them. One of the few exceptions is the floppy disk, also known as floppy disk, or floppy disk. Largely thanks to the floppy disk, the emergence of personal computers became possible, but it was thanks to personal computers that the floppy disk became so widespread. All information about capacities and formats below applies to IBM-compatible personal computers unless otherwise noted. This is explained by their significantly wider distribution, especially in Russia. Therefore, below you will not find descriptions of exotic floppy disk formats - may fans of the Macintosh or Amiga platforms not be offended by me.

The first floppy disk was developed by IBM in 1967. Thirty-two years is a very respectable age for computer technology, but, apparently, “my old lady is still alive.” Let's try to trace her life in development.

The time of birth of our heroine refers to the initial period of development of mini- and microcomputers. They required a storage medium that was different from the bulky storage devices used at that time on magnetic and punched tapes, hard drives and punched cards (cardboard cards with rows of numbers and a complex pattern of holes punched by a machine - something like brass disks for a mechanical piano. - Note ed.). The period of infancy and childhood, that is, the development of technology, took four years, so the first commercial drives were offered by IBM in 1971 - the same year that Intel introduced the 4004 processor. We can say that the two events coincided in time by chance, since There was no prior intention to use a floppy drive specifically on the future “Intel-compatible” personal computer. But this accident once again demonstrates the parallel development of various technologies that led to the emergence of the first personal computers.

The development of our heroine floppy disk in some ways corresponds to the stages of growing up of homo sapiens, and in some ways it is completely opposite to it. A person gains intelligence with age, his capabilities increase; The same can be said about floppy disks, the capacity of which increases as technology improves. But the “growth” of floppy disks has a completely opposite trend - it decreases with age.

Our heroine was born with a size (more precisely, diameter) of 8 inches (203.2 mm), which is not enough for a person, but for a medium with a capacity of just over 100 KB at that time it was just right. Named Flexible Disk at birth, it quickly received several slang names. For example, the “alias” floppy disk comes from the English word flop (“flapping wings”). Indeed, the sound produced when waving a 20x20 cm envelope is similar to the noise produced by a bird of the same size taking off. Such a medium began to be called a floppy disk a little later, after the first reduction in size. This is perhaps a record for the number of names for the same technology.

Initially, the floppy disk consisted of two parts: the media and the envelope. The media was a round plate with a central hole reinforced at the edges and one or more index holes cut from wide and thick double-sided magnetic tape. The envelope was made of plastic, smooth on the outside and covered with lint on the inside, and had holes for a spindle that rotated the media, a slot for heads and optocouplers for reading the index.

At the very beginning, the division of floppy disks into sectors was rigid, that is, each sector had its own index hole. Subsequently, the number of index holes was reduced to one, corresponding to the beginning of the track. Therefore, floppy disks of the Hard Sectored (hard sectored) and Soft Sectored (one index hole) types coexisted for some time. Due to internal reserves, the media volume was increased from 100 to 256 KB, which remained the physical limit for standard 8-inch floppy disks. Until the end of the 70s, floppy disk drives were installed mainly in mini-computers, and then in microcomputers (the PC we are used to belongs specifically to the class of microcomputers. - Note ed.). As a result, the production volume of floppy drives was small, and therefore their prices went through the roof for $1000.

The first mass-produced personal computer to use 8-inch floppy disks was the Apple II, demonstrated in prototype form in 1976. However, just a few months earlier, Shugart had announced a 5.25-inch floppy disk drive for a reasonable price of $390. However, 8-inch floppy disks were used for quite a long time, and drive designs shone with variety. For example, in the Rainbow personal computer (DEC), to reduce cost, the two devices shared a common head unit drive, so that only one floppy disk could be accessed at a time. By the way, on the issue of longevity. 8-inch floppy disks are still produced: those who don’t believe you can check the Imation website (http://www.imation.com, formerly a division of 3M).

So, in 1976, the first reduction in floppy disk size took place from 8 to 5.25 inches. Its volume briefly became 180 KB, which was clearly not enough, so floppy disks soon appeared, recording on both sides. They were called Double Density, although it was not the density that was increased, but the volume. These are the drives that were installed in the IBM PC personal computer, which was released in 1981.

As the volume of programs and data grew, it became clear that the capacity of a 360 KB floppy disk was clearly insufficient. A new format was developed and, accordingly, new floppy disks and drives. To manufacture 1.2 MB floppy disks, improved magnetic materials were used, which made it possible, while reducing the track width by half and increasing the recording density, to still obtain a satisfactory signal level from the reading head. Exactly doubling the number of tracks (from 48 to 96) made it possible to maintain backward compatibility, that is, a 1.2 MB floppy drive could read a 360 KB floppy disk. The floppy disk, interestingly, had no cutouts or holes through which the drive could determine its type; this information was recorded in the table of contents.

However, having reached a decent (and almost limiting for this technology) density, the 5.25-inch floppy disk still suffered from “childhood diseases,” that is, insufficient mechanical strength and the degree of protection of the media from external influences. Through the hole for the head unit, the surface could easily become dirty, especially if the floppy disk was not stored in an envelope. The floppy disk was literally flexible: it could be rolled up and... then thrown into the nearest trash can. Inscriptions on the sticker could only be made with a soft felt-tip pen, since a ballpoint pen or pencil would press through the envelope material. So the time has come for the soft floppy disk to acquire a hard shell.

In 1980, Sony demonstrated a new standard 3.5-inch floppy disk and drive. Now it has become difficult to call it flexible or floppy - “flapping”. The solid hard plastic housing and the absence of an index hole provide mechanical protection for the media. The only remaining hole, intended for access of the heads to the media, is covered with a spring-loaded metal curtain. To protect against accidental overwriting, there is not a sealed cutout, as on a 5.25-inch floppy disk (try to find the necessary piece of black sticky paper at the right time!), but a movable flap, which is part of the case design. Initially, the capacity of a 3.5-inch floppy disk was 720 KB (Double Density, DD), and then increased to 1.44 MB (High Density, HD).

It was just such a drive (and only one) that was installed in the computers of the sensational and rather disastrous series of IBM PS/2 computers due to incompatible innovations. Later, due to obvious advantages, this standard replaced 5.25-inch floppy disks. True, the more convenient Sony standard floppy disks in a hard plastic case were still inferior to “five-inch” diskettes in terms of price/capacity ratio, and the compatibility problem made itself felt for a long time: 3.5-inch disk drives could not be found everywhere.

The last evolutionary improvement of the floppy disk was undertaken by Toshiba in the late 80s. By improving media production technology and recording methods, the capacity of the floppy disk was doubled - to 2.88 MB. However, this format did not take root due to a number of reasons. The high transfer speed adopted in the drive of this format (more than 1 Mbit/s) was not supported by the majority of previously released controllers and chipsets designed for a speed of 500 Kbit/s, that is, to use the new drive it was necessary to purchase the appropriate card. The cost of such a floppy disk is high, amounting to several dollars compared to about 50 cents for a regular 1.44 MB floppy disk. And finally, the inertia of the huge mass of drives for 1.44 MB floppy disks, already available at that time, did not allow the market to swing towards 2.88 MB media - the use of a non-standard format could complicate exchange with the outside world.

Anatomy of a floppy disk

Like any other magnetic disk medium, a floppy disk is divided into concentrically arranged tracks. The tracks, in turn, are divided into sectors. Moving the head to access different tracks is done using a special head positioning drive, which radially moves the magnetic head assembly from one track to another. The various sectors within a track are accessed simply by rotating the media. Interestingly, the numbering of tracks begins with “0”, and sectors with “1”, and this system was subsequently transferred to hard drives.

The principle of recording information on a floppy disk is the same as in a tape recorder: there is direct mechanical contact of the head with a magnetic layer deposited on an artificial film - Mylar. This determines the low read/write speed (the media cannot move quickly relative to the head), low reliability and durability (after all, mechanical erasure and wear of the media occur). Unlike a tape recorder, recording is carried out without high-frequency bias - by reversing the magnetization of the carrier material until saturation.

As already noted, initially the marking of an 8-inch floppy disk into sectors was rigid, that is, the beginning of each sector corresponded to an index hole, the passage of which through the optocoupler caused an electrical impulse. This simplified the design of the controller (no need to track the beginning of each sector) and the drive (no need to maintain high rotation speed stability), but limited the increase in capacity due to internal reserves and reduced strength. Subsequently, thanks to the progress of microelectronics, the number of index holes was reduced to one, corresponding to the track header, and the sector headers were identified by the controller. In 3.5-inch floppy disks there is no index hole; synchronization is carried out solely by reading the headers.

At first, positioning of the head was most often carried out using the “stepper motor-screw-nut” mechanism. The head block was mounted on a carriage moving along guides parallel to the radius of the floppy disk. There was a hole in the carriage through which the screw passed, and on the hole there was a protrusion that fit into the thread on the screw and acted as a section of the thread of the nut. The stepper motor rotated the lead screw, moving the head block radially through the nut in one step per track. On an 8-inch floppy disk, only such a mechanism could ensure accurate positioning of the carriage with its large stroke (about 60 mm). After the advent of smaller flexible disks (5.25 and 3.5 inches), another kinematic head drive scheme was developed that is still in use today. It is based on a flexible, elastic metal strip, one end mounted on a carriage, and the other on a drum mounted on the shaft of a stepper motor. When the motor shaft (and drum) is turned, the strip is wound or unwinded, its other end moving the carriage with the block of heads translationally along the radius of the floppy disk.

The general design principles of the head block of classic floppy disks have undergone few changes. Their peculiarity is the presence of two tunnel erase heads located on the sides behind the recording/playback head. The role of these heads is to eliminate the interference of information recorded on adjacent tracks. Their work can be illustrated with the following example: one person sprinkles a path with sand, and two people following him sweep away all the sand that has fallen beyond the edges of the path.

The drives that are supposed to replace the classic floppy disk use even more complex heads that must interact with two different media, sometimes even based on different operating principles.

The floppy disk will still have time to catch a cold at the funeral of its “killers”

So, the evolutionary development of the floppy disk ended due to the fact that technology reached its limit. The period of revolutions has come, and, as with a political revolution, each revolutionary knows better than anyone what the “revolutionized” users need, and acts in accordance with this. The result is a variety of formats that differ from each other, so that the only real compatibility between all these devices is ensured by the fact that they can also work with a 1.44 MB floppy disk. The floppy disk “killers” line up: jostling with their elbows and getting in each other’s way. Let us list only the most “loud” names of these would-be killers:

The LS-120 (Laser Servo) is the brainchild of Mitsubishi Electronics America and Winstation Systems, has a capacity of 120 MB and a maximum transfer speed of 4 MB/s (for the SCSI interface). Can also be connected via the IDE interface. Like Sony's new 200MB HiFD drive, this drive uses different heads to handle 1.44MB floppy and high-capacity media. To read/write media with a capacity of 120 MB, a magnetic head with a “laser sight” is used. That is, the head is positioned in a similar way to what happens in CD-ROM drives, but only along service tracks that are specially placed during the manufacture of the media and cannot be rewritten. The surface of an LS-120 floppy disk can accommodate 2,490 tracks per inch versus 135 tracks per inch for conventional 1.44 MB floppy disks. Analogous to the LS-120 in operating principle and volume, the SuperDisk Drive was developed by Imation (formerly a division of 3M).
The floppy disk and HiFD (High Capacity Floppy Disk) drive were developed jointly by Sony, TEAC, Alps and Fuji. At a spindle speed of 3600 rpm, a transfer speed of about 600 KB/s is provided (according to other sources, Sony HiFD performance reaches 3.6 MB/s - testing in our laboratory will show. - Note ed.). The cartridge capacity is 200 MB.
The UHC-31130 drive was invented by Mitsumi Electric and Swan Instruments.
The Ultra High Density (UHD) drive from Caleb Technology Corp has a capacity of 144 MB. According to the developers, this IDE drive provides a sevenfold increase in performance compared to a traditional floppy drive. Caleb UHD has a stated data transfer speed of 970 KB/s, costs about $70, and in the future it is planned to increase the storage capacity to 540 MB.
Samsung's Pro-FD has a capacity of 123 MB and a transfer speed of 625 KB/s. Positioning uses exclusively self-aligning magnetic technology.

The sheer abundance of technologies and formats gathered for the “funeral” of the floppy disk suggests that rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated. The reason for the wide popularity (maybe forced, since there is no and cannot be a replacement for it in the current situation) of the floppy disk is precisely that you don’t have to check the presence of a certain type of drive in the company where the data is sent: you don’t need to spend a lot of time checking with the secretary , do they have Zip or what kind of magneto-optics do they use. About 100 million 1.44MB floppy disk drives were sold last year, according to Disk/Trend.

The floppy drive not only did not die, but did not even weaken its position - in terms of unit sales, it is 12 times stronger than all its competitors combined, including Iomega Zip.

Therefore, my personal opinion is this: if anyone manages to bury the floppy disk, it won’t be all these “gravediggers” - they are more pushing each other away, trying to take possession of the inheritance of the person responsible for the event, than doing business. Moreover, they already have a competitor who has the main qualities of a floppy disk, namely: complete and absolute compatibility and mass availability. This means CD. As prices for rewritable and rewritable discs and related drives fall, they will become more common. Their main advantage is a head start from hundreds of millions of already installed drives and full compatibility with each other.

A standard floppy drive has a data transfer rate of 62 KB/s and an average seek time of 84 ms. This, along with the ISA bus (to which until recently 1.44 MB drives were connected), is a serious limitation on their performance. Even very slow (by the standards of high-density drives) LS-120 class drives have a seek time of about 70 ms, and data transfer speeds of up to 565 KB/s.

ComputerPress 8"1999

Good day to all, dear readers of my blog. How are you feeling? I hope it's great. You know? I recently discovered old floppy disks at work. I immediately remembered how when I was little I came to my father’s work and inserted 5-inch floppy disks into the computer to play some game.

Now floppy disks have long gone into oblivion, although 3.5-inch disks can still be found in stores. But what can we say about them when even laser discs are seeing their last days, because there are compact flash drives. You don't even have to have a flash drive. Now, with the development of the Internet, you can store files on special cloud services and have access to them from anywhere where there is Internet.

In general, today I want to tell you what the history of the development of disks and floppy disks was, how long each model lasted, etc. The article is certainly not particularly entertaining, but I hope that you will like it and allow you to relax and plunge into nostalgia.

Floppy disks

Floppy disks are also called floppy disks and they are the first portable storage media with the ability to be rewritten multiple times. And throughout time there have been several types of such carriers.

8 inches

The first 8-inch floppy disk was released by IBM back in 1971. Can you imagine? Such disks were made of a special polymer material with a magnetic coating, after which they were placed in a special thin plastic box.

And of course, it was possible to record a small amount of information on such media - no more than 800 kb. Can you imagine? What is 800 kb? It's just nothing. But to be honest, I myself have never seen such floppy disks in real life. Although I need to get it somewhere for my collection.

5.25 inches

Eight-inch floppy disks were replaced in 1976 by 5.25-inch floppy disks. But they were created not by IBM, but by Shugart Associates. But in fact, they were not much different from their predecessors, except that in size, memory capacity (110, 360, 720, 1200 kb) and the plastic coating was harder. I only came across 720 kb diskettes when I played with my father at work , but that was enough.

3.5 inches

I think that 3.5-inch carriers have seen and touched everything, since they actually disappeared into oblivion not so long ago, although as I said above, they are still used and sold in stores, although I have The computer and laptop no longer have a disk drive.

This floppy disk was first created and demonstrated by the famous company SONY in 1981. This carrier was already specifically different from its predecessors. Firstly, it was smaller in size, secondly, it had a specifically different design and a very rigid case, and thirdly, in the middle there was no longer a hole, but a special round metal insert, which allowed the disk to be correctly distributed inside the computer.

The volume of such diskettes was 720 kb (rare), 1.44 MB (running) and 2.88 MB. They were even popular back in the early 2000s, when not everyone could afford a flash drive, and a separate drive was needed to record on a CD.

Iomega ZIP

In the 90s of the last century (Oh, how strange it sounds) new storage media appeared, which were called ZIP disks. These things were very similar in appearance to 3.5-inch drives, but thicker and heavier, so they also needed a separate drive. Such disks had a capacity of 100 and 250 MB (even very rarely 750 MB could be found). Can you imagine how big this is compared to the previous ones?

Such media were supposed to replace and push 3.5-inch media out of the market, but this did not happen. Such disk drives and the zips themselves were incredibly expensive and no one bought them. So this idea withered away, and people remained stuck on the usual three-inch friends. By the way, I have a few lying around at work, but I haven’t seen them in action myself.

Laserdiscs

If you think that laser discs are more modern media, then you are mistaken. Their creation began back in 1979, and in 1982 they already went into mass production.

At the beginning it was assumed that these media would be used only as music, but then it was decided to make it so that any information could be stored on it.

Interesting fact: By the way, do you know why it was originally possible to record 74 minutes of sound on a disc? Why such a strange number? Because the vice president of SONY wildly insisted that this medium could completely accommodate Bach’s ninth symphony, which just lasts 74 minutes. This was the longest piece, and if it had fit, the others would have fit too.

But in the early 2000s, it was decided to increase the volume, and if previously up to 74 minutes of audio or 650 MB of data could be recorded on a disc, now it was possible to record up to 80 minutes of audio or 700 MB of data.

The wheels themselves are made of polycarbonate with a thin coating of aluminum (sometimes silver), which is eventually covered with a very thin layer of varnish.

CD-R and CD-RW

In 1988, a new type of disk appeared, which was initially produced blank, but on which you could record information yourself. Such discs are popularly called blanks and you can record information on them, but you cannot delete this information. This format is called CD-R (Compact Disk Recordable).

Almost 10 years later, in 1997, a format similar to CD-R appears, but with one significant difference. It was possible not only to record anything on this medium, but also to erase and rewrite it. This format is called CD-RW (Compact Disk ReWritable).

I remember how in 2003 I bought myself a CD-RW drive and was so happy that I could now burn discs and compile my own music collections from the compositions that I liked. Back then, practically no one knew anyone like him. There was only one classmate and that was it.

DVD

In 1996, the Japanese created a new laser media format - DVD (Digital Video Disk). In size and appearance, these discs are no different from ordinary CDs, except that they are denser. But the first copy, which received the DVD-1 format, could already contain 2 times more information, namely 1.46 GB.

Over time, other formats with larger capacities appeared: DVD-5, DVD-9 and even DVD-18. The most popular models were DVD-5 and they contained 4.7 GB of information. DVD-9 was less common, but I personally have never encountered DVD-18 with a stated 17-gigabyte capacity.

DVD+R and DVD-R

Well, in the image and likeness of CDs, blank discs were also produced, but with one difference. They were divided into two camps - DVD+R and DVD-R. At the time when I just started using them, no one even really knew how they differed. Of course, there are some differences, but they are not so critical and are no longer even particularly relevant.

For example, at one time most DVD players could not play the “+” format. In addition, it was possible not only to record information on DVD+R/RW, but also to add additional information, which could not be done on DVD-R. On DVD-R - I recorded it once and finished it. There are some other differences and clarifications, but I think there is no point in going into such details.

DVD-RAM

Another DVD format that did not gain much popularity, since it was much more expensive and had little meaning. Its main difference was that if a regular DVD-RW disc was designed to be written no more than 1000 times, then RAM was designed to write data more than ten, or even hundreds of thousands of times.

Well, it was also possible to record information on such a disk in real time, i.e. without additional programs (like on a flash drive). I used this type of disc only for an old DVD camera, since it was recording in real time. By the way, it still works and the disk in it also works, but one side of it has already become unusable. What hundreds of thousands of times can we talk about then?

Well, in general, it turns out that the format was not particularly necessary. Tell me, have you ever used RW 1000 times to record? Or at least 100? I personally believe that I have never used one drive more than 30-40 times. They were more quickly lost or damaged by physical impacts.

BD

Last in this article I would like to highlight the BD format, in other words Blu-Ray Disk, which was released in 2006. This disk is again no different in appearance from the previous ones, but has become even denser and, of course, can contain a larger amount of information - from 25 GB (single-layer) to 50 GB (double-layer).

This type was invented mainly in order to place films (or other videos) there with very high quality. If you use torrents to search for movies, you might have seen that some movies are BD-rips. This means that they are just transferred from a Blu-ray disc and such films usually occupy more than 15 gigabytes. But of course you can also record regular files.

But despite the fact that the format is voluminous, it did not gain much popularity and practically passed the cash register. A friend told me that when he worked in a photo salon, in addition to photography and various services, he had to sell various goods (films, albums, disks, flash drives, etc.).

So, one day they asked him if Bluray was available? But they were not available. After that, the boss bought about 30 of these BDs for the purpose of sales, but after 2 years no one was interested in them anymore.

Well, that's all I would like to tell you about the evolution of disks. As you understand, I won’t shove flash drives here, because they can be given a separate article. I hope that you liked my article and you will not forget to subscribe to blog updates. See you in other articles. Bye bye.

Best regards, Dmitry Kostin.