| Even though there is a lot to be said about floppy | | | | 1980's, then you probably only know of the 3.5" |
| drives, these forms of data storage are mostly | | | | floppy. These typically came in sizes between 720KB |
| mentioned in a historical capacity. While you can do a | | | | and 2.8 MB - though the 1.44MB floppy disk was by |
| data backup to a floppy disk (assuming your | | | | far the most common size. |
| computer even has a floppy drive) it is definitely not | | | | The 5.25" floppy was the older version and was a bit |
| recommended. There are many other methods of | | | | floppier than the 3.5" version. These could only hold |
| backing up your information that are far more reliable | | | | between 100KB and 1.2MB of data. |
| and offer far higher capacities. | | | | Most computers do not come with floppy disk drives |
| The floppy disk was the first truly portable form of | | | | anymore. The reason for this is that they are no |
| information storage for computers. Sure, you could | | | | longer in wide use, and most of the important |
| move tape drives around at risk of severely | | | | information that was on computers that only had |
| damaging the tape, and you could move punch cards | | | | floppy disks for data storage has since been moved |
| from computer to computer, but both of these | | | | onto newer computers or storage media. |
| storage options were unwieldy. When they were | | | | You may still need floppy disks if you need to |
| invented, floppy disks could store up to 1.44MB of | | | | communicate with older technology. Some lab |
| data. | | | | computers at certain schools are so old that they |
| As you can probably tell already, 1.44MB of storage | | | | need floppy disks to retrieve data from and store |
| space is nothing in the world of today where most | | | | data to. |
| of the files you will be saving are several or even | | | | If you need a disk drive and do not already have one |
| several hundred megabytes in size. | | | | on your computer, you can purchase an external |
| The floppy disk was invented by Dr. Nakamats, who | | | | drive at most computer stores. Hurry, though! This |
| apparently did most of his thinking at the bottom of | | | | type of data storage is so out of date that it is likely |
| his swimming pool. The floppy disk drive was just | | | | that these external drives will not be available for |
| one of the many things that he invented while sitting | | | | much longer. These drives can be connected to your |
| on the bottom of his pool. Almost as soon as it was | | | | computer through USB or alternatively with a parallel |
| invented, the floppy disk made punch cards obsolete | | | | port. |
| - they were just so portable, reliable, and easy to | | | | Unless the computer that you are using is too old to |
| use. | | | | have USB connections, you should not be using a |
| The first floppy disks were invented in the 1960's by | | | | floppy disk to bring information to and from school or |
| IBM. The disks were 8" across and were used during | | | | work anyway. Instead, you can just use a USB flash |
| the 1970's on the computers of that time. However, | | | | memory drive, which is much smaller and harder to |
| it was the smaller floppy disk drives that were | | | | damage. |
| commonly used in people's homes. | | | | Do not try to back up your computer on floppy |
| There were two sizes of these commonly used | | | | disks! The number of disks that you will need will |
| floppy disks, the 5.25" and the 3.5" floppy. If you did | | | | quickly make this into a time consuming and |
| not have a computer during the early 1990's or | | | | expensive task! |