8 technology revolutions that are now relics
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Floppy disk
As the first portable storage device for personal computers, the floppy disk revolutionized home technology. It was hugely popular, becoming a fixture for tech-savvy Americans throughout the 1980s and 1990s. But then, as rewritable CDs, thumb drives and zip drives surfaced, the floppy disk — and its limited storage space — became less and less useful. Between the early ’70s and 2000s, manufacturers tried to make the disks more appealing for users, going from a disk that was 8 inches with a 1.5-megabyte capacity to 3 1/2 inches with 150–200 megabyte capacity. Despite the advancements, it wasn’t enough. Apple removed the floppy disk drive from its iMac in 1998 and Dell followed suit in 2003, officially rendering the disks outdated.
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Comments
I still have a usb connection floppy disc reader that plugs into my computer.
So I could still use the litle things.
The floppy disk never had a formatted capacity of more than 1.4 megabytes. Any disk with more than that was a removable hard drive.
Don't forget about "floptical" and "magneto-optical" systems.
Also, don't leave out the good ol' Bernoulli Box
The statement about 1.4 megabytes being the maximum formatted capacity for floppies is inaccurate. I used a 2.8 meg formatted floppy for a long time. I have some Caleb brand 144 megabyte floppy drives that will run the smaller capacity old floppy disks. There were LS120 (120 meg floppies) that also ran 1.4 floppies. I think there were a lot more drives that had these larger capacities and still ran 1.4 and 720 floppies. These were not Zip drives or anything like that.
I'm just old enough to remember all the original stuff.. 8" floppys, 3.5 diskettes, Zip drives...iMacs. Even then, in Jr. high school beginers computer classes in late 90's most everything was still small enough a 1.44mb diskette was enough space. Now look at us, external memory devises the size of your thumb clipped to your key ring with more capacity than the 80's super computers I was born around.
The main thing I remember about floppies is the price. When they first came out they were $5.00 each!!!! A year later, they cost about 10 for $5.00, and as we have learned about computers, in a year or 2 they were obsolete. My time frames may not be exactly correct, but price changes, especially in the personal computer world, were astounding.
As i sit here reading your article on my Dell Optiplex GX620 running Windows XP I glance up and see the 3.5" floppy drive that came stock.Want to check that research you did for this article again, maybe?
Floppy disks were never 150-200MB in capacity LOL.
The floppy pictured above, maxed out at 1.44MB.
The earlier ones that were actually floppy, were 128k.
The Bernoulli Box used a "floppy" disk of up to 230MB.
Yep - I was working as a field engineer & technician when the industry made the MAJOR technological jump to the 8" floppy disk - first at 128k, and then (GASP) at the amazing capacity of 360K storage per diskette !!! Of course, I got into the industry at 17yrs old when we were typing the BASIC programs and the "bootstraps" that were required to bring the machines up first - by hand via the keyboards... and just how impressed we were when the "new technology" allowed us to load the.... More
Believe it or not, there was. I think it was Imation that marketed the Superdisk/LS-120/-240 format. The superdisk drive was designed to be backwards compatible with 1.44MB diskettes while the superdisk diskettes had the capacity for 120MB and later 240MB.
I remember the TV commercials.
The disk wore a cape like Superman.
Clay animated?
It may have been a floptical.
I've seen the drives themselves.
There's a logo on the dust-door.
Never saw one work, or their disks.
The Superdisk was patented by 3M, a 120 MB in 3.5" form factor drive which could read and write standard 1.44 MB disks. I seem to recall that it was manufactured by LSI.
The first 8" floppy disks had a capacity less 100kb, and the latest revision was about 500kb. 5.25" disks had capacities ranging from about 100kb to 1.2mb. The 3.5" discs were only 1.44mb standard capacity, and the 2.88mb never caught on. It was until the very late 90's, when Zip and Jaz drives took off, that capacity went anywhere near 100 or 200mb. In fact, any 3.5" drive that offers capacity above 1.44mb is still a rare item.
The FIRST 3.5" "floppies" (which were actually rigid cased - same as the 1.44mb disks - one of their major advantages) came out in a 720K capacity - If I recall, they differentiated them as single sided/single density and dual sided/dual density when the 1.44mb disks came out - I DO seem too recall the first 8" floppies as being 64KB capacity - and like I've said earlier, I was in the industry from the dinosaur days...
I still have several of the first 8" floppy drives, and some of.... More
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