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Floppy disks were an almost universal data format from the 1970s into the 1990s, used for primary data storage as well as for backup and data transfers between computers. In 1967, at an IBM facility in San Jose, California, work began on a drive that led to the world's first floppy disk and disk drive. [1]
The first floppy disks, invented and made by IBM in 1971, [3] had a disk diameter of 8 inches (203.2 mm). [4] Subsequently, the 5¼-inch (133.35 mm) and then the 3½-inch (88.9 mm) became a ubiquitous form of data storage and transfer into the first years of the 21st century.
The first floppies got dirty easily, so the team packaged them in slim envelopes equipped with an innovative dust-wiping element, making it possible to handle and store them easily. IBM began selling floppy disk drives in 1971 and received US patents for the drive and floppy disk in 1972.
The story of the Floppy Disk began in the late 1960s when IBM introduced the first-ever floppy disk, an 8-inch marvel that would soon set the stage for a revolution in data storage. However, the advent of the more compact and versatile 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch formats in the late 1970s and 1980s marked the Floppy Disk era.
Invented by IBM engineers led by Alan Shugart, the first disks were designed for loading microcodes into the controller of the Merlin (IBM 3330) disk pack file, a 100 MB storage device. So, in effect, the first floppies were used to fill another type of data storage device.
The first floppy disks were 8-inch behemoths that were difficult to handle and store because they got dirty easily. Noble and his team addressed this issue by developing slim, durable envelopes with an element that wiped dust off the disk. And thus, the floppy disk as we know it was born.
19 lip 2021 · Fifty years ago, IBM introduced the first-ever floppy disk drive, the IBM 23FD, and the first floppy disks. Floppies made punched cards obsolete, and its successors ruled software distribution for the next 20 years. Here's a look at how and why the floppy disk became an icon.
