Invented by an IBM engineer, the floppy disk is a storage medium first introduced in the 1960s. The medium utilizes a magnetic disc that is encased in a plastic rectangle, with a metal spring-loaded clip protecting the exposed strip that is used to read and write information when it is inserted into a computer’s drive. Using a floppy disk, users could transfer data between different machines and create backups of their work.
Floppy disks were widespread through the early days of computing and were used up until the late 1990s as the primary form of data storage. Before they entered the market, data transfer was much more difficult as storing data could only be done on larger and heavier drives. The floppy disk essentially made data storage truly portable and accessible, as they were cheap, lightweight, and easy to use. They eventually led to large-scale software distribution, providing ways for computer users to gain access to everything from education programs to computer games.
However, as computer technology moved forward, the limitations of the floppy disk started to outweigh the benefits. Software was dramatically increasing in size, making the typical 1.44 megabytes of capacity on a floppy disk problematic. Meanwhile, faster and higher capacity storage solutions, such as CD-ROMs and USB flash drives, were becoming more widespread. These factors combined to bring an end to the era of the floppy disk.
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