Volume of a flexible disk. What is a floppy disk

And the controller of such a device is customary to mark abbreviation KMD.

Dissars typically have a write protection function by which you can provide access to data only in read mode. The floppers were massively distributed since the 1970s and until the end of the 1990s, lifting more capacious and convenient, DVD and flash drives.

An intermediate variant between them and traditional diskettes are more modern NGMDs using cartridges - Iomega Zip, Iomega Jaz; As well as magneto-optical carriers (MO), LS-120 and others, in which the laser was combined (used for heating the area of \u200b\u200bthe disk surface) and the magnetic head (for recording and reading information from the surface of the disk).

History

• - Alan Shugart headed a team that developed drives in the Laboratory of IBM, where drives were created on flexible disks. David Nobl (eng. David Noble.), one of the senior engineers working under his leadership proposed a flexible disk (prototype of floppy diskette 8 ") and a protective casing with a tissue gasket.
• - IBM was represented by the first diskette with a diameter of 8 "(200 mm) with the corresponding drive.
• - Alan Shugart is based on its own Shugart Associates firm.
• - Finn Conner (English. FINIS CONNER.) Invited Alan Shugart to take part in the development and release of drives with disks with a diameter of 5¼ ", as a result of which Shugart Associates, developing the controller and the original SHUGART Associates SA-400 interface, released a miniature drive (mini-floppy) flexible disks By 5¼ ", which quickly displacing drives for disks 8," became popular in personal computers. Shugart Associates also created the SHUGART Associates System Interface (SASI) interface, which after formal approval by the ANSI Committee in 1986 was renamed Small Computer System Interface (SCSI).
• - Sony displays a floppy disk with a diameter of 3½ "(90 mm). In the first version (DD), the volume is 720 kilobytes (9 sectors). In 1984, Hewlett-Packard first used this drive in his HP-150 computer. Late version (HD) has a volume of 1440 kilobytes or 1.44 megabytes (18 sectors).
• 1984 - Apple has become used to use drives 3½ "in Macintosh computers
• 1987 - 3½ "HD Drive appeared in computer systems PS / 2 IBM firms and becomes standard for mass PCs.
• 1987 - officially presented in the 1980s by Toshiba Corporation for ultrahigh density drives (eng. Extra High Density, ED) The carrier for which has served a 2280 kilobyte diskette or 2.88 megabytes (36 sectors).
• 2011 - Sony in March 2011 set a point in the history of floppy disks, officially ceasing production and sale of a floppy disk 3½ ".

Formats, depending on the diameter of the disk

eight"

Constructive diskette 8 "is a disc made of polymeric materials with a magnetic coating, enclosed in a flexible plastic case. There were holes in the case: a large round in the center - for the spindle, a small round - an index window that allows you to determine the beginning of the sector and rectangular with rounded ends - for the magnetic drive heads. Also below was the excavation, removing the sticker with which, it was possible to protect the disk disc.

The floppy formats differed in the number of sectors on the track. Depending on the format, diskettes 8 "contained the following volumes of information: 80, 256 and 800 kb.

5¼ "

Floppy disk 5¼ "

The design of the five-year floppy diskette differed little from the eighty-mounted: the window of the index hole was located on the right and not on top, the slot to protect against recording is also in the right side of the floppy disk. For better disk preservation, his case was made tougher, reinforced around the perimeter. To prevent premature wear between the case and the disk, the antifriction gasket was placed, and the edges of the drive opening were strengthened by a plastic or metal ring (in high density floppy disks, this ring was usually absent, since the errors of its location on a diskette can lead to problems that occur when positioning the heads).

There were disks with a rigid breakdown on the sectors: they were distinguished by the presence of several index holes in the number of sectors. Later from such a scheme refused.

Both floppy disks and two-way disks existed single and bilateral. When using a single-sided drive, read the second side, simply turning the floppy disk, due to the location of the index hole window - for this it would be necessary to have a similar window located symmetrically existing. The data protection mechanism was also revised - the window was located on the right, and the stuck hole meant a protected disk. This was done to protect against improper installation.

The recording formats for five-linked diskettes allowed to store on it 110, 360, 720 or 1200 kilobytes of data.

3½ "

The principal difference of floppy disks is 3½ "is a hard plastic case. Instead of an index hole in floppy disks, a metal sleeve with a mounting hole is used, which is located in the center of the floppy disk. The drive mechanism captures the metal sleeve, and the hole in it allows you to properly position the floppy disk, so there is no need to make a hole directly in the magnetic disk. Unlike 8 "and 5¼" disks, a window for a diskette head 3½ "closed with a sliding metal flap, which opens when it is installed in the drive. Record protection is made by a shifting curtain in the lower left corner. The onions on the right are the windows that allow the circuit diagram by the number of holes to determine the density of the disc record:

• no - 720 kb,
• one - 1.44 MB,
• two - 2.88 MB.

Despite many disadvantages - sensitivity to magnetic fields and insufficient by the mid-1990s, the capacity, format 3½ "lasted on the market for more than a quarter of a century, leaving only after the appearance of the storage devices available at the price of flash memory.

Device flop 3½ "

1 - a window that defines the record density (on the other side - the recording protection switch); 2 - the base of the disk with holes for the leading mechanism; 3 - protective curtain of the open area of \u200b\u200bthe case; 4 - plastic diskette case; 5 - antifriction gasket; 6 - magnetic disk; 7 - recording area (one sector of one track) is highlighted in red).

Iomega Zip.

Diskette zip-250

By the mid-90s, the diskettes even at 2.88 MB was not enough. There were several formats to change a flop of 3.5 ", among which the omega zip floppy disks won the greatest popularity. Just like a 3.5 "floppy disk, the Iomega Zip carrier was a soft polymer disk covered with a ferromagnetic layer and enclosed in a hard housing with a protective curtain. Unlike 3.5 "-disks, a hole for magnetic heads was located in the end of the housing, and not on the side surface. There were 15, 250 floppy disks, and by the end of the existence of the format - and 750 MB. In addition to the larger volume, ZIP disks provided more reliable data storage and higher reading and recording speed than 3.5 ". However, they could not oust three-handed floppy disks due to the high price of both drives and disks, as well as because of unpleasant features The drives when a diskette with a mechanical damage to the disk output disk drive, which in turn could spoil the diskette inserted into it.

Formats

Chronology of the emergence of diskette formats

Format	Year of origin	Volume in kilobytes
eight"		80
eight"		256
eight"		800
8 "Double density		1000
5¼ "		110
5¼ "Double density		360
5¼ "quadruple density		720
5¼ "high density		1200
3 "		360
3 "Double density		720
3½ "Double density		720
2 "		720
3½ "high density		1440
3½ "extended density		2880

It should be noted that the actual capacitance of the diskette depended on the method of formatting them. Because, besides the earliest models, almost all floppy disks did not contain tough formed tracks, the road for experiments in the region effective use The diskettes were open for system programmers. The result was the appearance of a multitude of non-compatible diskettes between their formats, even under the same operating systems.

Flow diskette in IBM equipment

"Standard" Formats The IBM PC diskette differed disk size, the number of sectors on the track, the number of used parties (SS denotes a one-way diskette, DS - double-sided), as well as a type (recording density) of the drive - the drive type was labeled:

• SD (eng. Single Density, single density, first appeared in IBM System 3740),
• DD (eng. Double Density, double density, first appeared in IBM System 34),
• QD (eng. Quadruple Density., four density, used in domestic clones Robotron-1910 - 5¼ "Digital 720 K, Amsstrad PC, PC Neuron - 5¼" flop 640 K),
• HD (eng. High Density, high density, differed from QD in an increased sectors),
• ED (eng. Extra High Density, ultrahigh density).

In additional (non-standard) tracks and sectors sometimes placed data protection data from copying proprietary diskettes. Standard programs, such as the diskcopy.have not transferred these sectors when copying.

Work density of drives and capacity diskettes in kilobytes

Magnetic coating parameter	5¼ "			3½ "
	Double density (DD)	Quad Density (QD)	High density (HD)	Double density (DD)	High density (HD)	Ultra high density (ED)
The basis of the magnetic layer		FE.		Co.	Co.
Coercive force	300	300	600	600	720	750
Magnetic layer layer thickness, micro	100	100	50	70	40	100
Width of the track, mm	0,300		0,155	0,115	0,115	0,115
Density tracks	48	96	96	135	135	135
Linear density	5876	5876	9646	8717	17434	34868
Capacity (after formatting)	360	720	1200 (1213952)	720	1440 (1457664)	2880

Summary table formats diskettes used in IBM PC and compatible PC

Disk diameter, "	5¼ "					3½ "
Capacity disk, KB	1200	360	320	180	160	2 880	1 440	720
Beaper Description byte in MS-DOS	F9 16.	FD 16.	FF 16.	FC 16.	Fe 16.	F0 16.	F0 16.	F9 16.
Number of Parties (Heads)	2	2	2	1	1	2	2	2
Number of tracks on each side	80	40	40	40	40	80	80	80
Number of sectors on the track	15	9	8	9	8	36	18	9
Sector size, byte	512
Number of sectors in the cluster	1	2	2	1	1	2	1	2
FAT length (in sectors)	2	2	1	2	1	9	9	3
Number of Fat.	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
The length of the root directory in sectors	14	7	7	4	4	15	14	7
Maximum number of items in the root directory	224	112	112	64	64	240	224	112
Total number of sectors on disk	2400	720	640	360	320	5 760	2 880	1 440
Number of available sectors	2371	708	630	351	313	5 726	2 847	1 426
Number of clusters available	2371	354	315	351	313	2 863	2 847	713

Formats floppy disk in other foreign equipment

An additional confusion made the fact that Apple used in its computers Macintosh drives applying a different coding principle for magnetic recording than on IBM PC as a result, despite the use of identical diskettes, the transfer of information between the platforms on the diskettes was not possible until the moment When Apple has implemented SUPERDRIVE high density drives operating in both modes.

A fairly frequent modification of a diskette format 3½ "is formatting them by 1.2 MB (with a reduced sectors). This feature can usually be included in the BIOS of modern computers. Such use is 3½ "characteristic of Japan and South Africa. As a side effect, the activation of this BIOS setting usually makes it possible to read a floppy disk formatted using type 800 drivers.

Features of using floppy disks in domestic technology

In addition to the above variations of formats, there have been a number of improvements and deviations from a standard diskette format:

• for example, for RT-11 and its versions adapted in the USSR, the number of incompatible floppy diskettes have exceeded a dozen. The most famous - used in DVK MX, MY;
• the 320/360 KB of the Spark-1030 / Iskra-1031 floppy disks are also known - there were actually ss / qd floppy disks, but their boot sector was recorded as DS / DD. As a result, the standard IBM PC drive could not read them without using special drivers (type 800.com), and the WORD-1030 / Iskra-1031 drive, respectively, could not read the standard DS / DD disks from IBM PC.

The PU_1700 driver also allowed to format the shift and interliving sectors - it accelerated the sequential read-write operations, as the head when switching to the next cylinder turned out to be before the first sector. When using ordinary formatting, when the first sector is always behind the indieuction (5¼ ") or for the passage zone over the armor or the Magnets Hall sensor, fixed on the motor (3½"), during the head of the head, the beginning of the first sector has time to slip, so the drive has to throw Overweight.

Special BIOS Expansion Drivers (800, PU_1700, VFormat and Series Others) allowed formatting floppy disks with an arbitrary number of tracks and sectors. Since the drives were usually maintained from one to 4 additional tracks, and also allowed, depending on the structural features, format for 1-4 sectors on the track larger than the standard, these drivers ensured the appearance of such non-standard formats as 800 KB (80 tracks, 10 sectors) 840 KB (84 tracks, 10 sectors), etc. The maximum capacity, resistantly achieved by such a 3½ "HD drives, was 1,700 KB. This technique was subsequently used in Microsoft DMF diskette formats, which expanded the diskette capacity to 1.68 MB due to the formatting of the diskette on the 21st sector (for example, in Windows 95 distributions), similar to the IBM XDF format, which was used in OS / 2 distributions.

Saved information

One of the main problems associated with the use of diskette was their briefness. The magnetic disk could relatively easily demagnetize the effects of metal magnetized surfaces, natural magnets, electromagnetic fields near high-frequency devices, which made storage of information on floppy disk spaces.

The most vulnerable element of the diskette design was a tin or plastic cover, covering the actual flexible disk: its edges could be flexing, which led to a jams of a floppy disk in a drive, which returned the casing to the original position of the spring could be shifted, as a result, the casing of the floppy disk was separated from the housing and no longer returned to the initial position. The plastic case itself did not serve as sufficient protection of the flexible disc from mechanical damage (for example, when the floppy diskettes is dropped to the floor), which output the magnetic carrier. In the slot between the case of a floppy disk and the casing could penetrate dust.

The massive displacement of disks from the consumption began with the advent of rewritable CDs, and especially, media based on flash memory, which have for orders of greater capacity, greater exchange rate and greater actual number of overwrite cycles and durability.

Modern position

External disk with USB interface

Currently, the use of floppy disk is practically discontinued. Since 2010, a large number of motherboards have been produced for desktop personal computers that do not contain a connector at all for connecting the drive. From laptops built-in drives completely disappeared by several years earlier.

Electronic keys When working with bank-client systems, providing an electronic digital signature of the document, previously distributed on diskettes, are increasingly produced in the form of a flash drive with a biometric protection function.

When installing drivers for equipment (for example, RAID-Massive) during the installation of the modern OS of the MS Windows family (Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7), a flash drive can also be applied.

In the absence of drives connected to the appropriate "classic" interface connector on motherboardYou can use an external device having a USB or SCSI interface.

Flockinet

The English name of the floppy disk is obliged by its appearance the informal term "floppy", denoting the use of interchangeable media (first of all, precisely floppy disks) for transferring files between computers. The prefix "-net" in ironic form compares such a way to transfer information from the similarity computer network At the time when using a "real" computer network for some reason is impossible. Also, the term "drive networks" is also used.

Symbolism

The image of the three-levy floppy disk is still used in the application with a graphical interface as an icon for buttons and menu items. Save.

Notes

Literature

• Verysky F. S. Computer science. New systematized explanatory dictionary. - 3rd ed. - m .: Fizmatlit, 2003. - 760 p. - (Introduction to modern information and telecommunication technologies in terms and facts). - ISBN 5-9221-0426-8

Links

One of the oldest storage devices on a personal computer is a floppy drive or, abbreviated, FDD (FLOPPY DISK Drive). This device, widely used during the 1970s-2000s. Now you can easily meet in modern computers. Nevertheless, in some cases, you can still see the floppy drive installed in the old PC. In addition, external diskettes for diskettes connected to the computer are used sometimes, and external drives are used via I / O ports.

The first drive for flexible disks and diskettes (in English - FLOPPY DISK) had 8 inches wide and were invented by an engineer Alan Shugart, who worked in IBM, in the early 1970s. In the mid-1970s, it was also developed a 5.25 inches format diskette and a drive for reading it. In 1981, Sony was developed by a diskette and a 3.5 inches drive. At first, the capacity of a similar flop was 720 KB, but subsequently its container was doubled.

Repeated attempts have been made to improve floppy disks based on a 3.5-inch format. So, for example, in 1987, a drive was developed for a 2.88 MB diskette, and in the late 1990s. - Standard LS-120 C An even large volume of disks -120 MB. However, all these modifications were not widespread, largely due to the high cost of drives and carriers.

Principle of operation

According to the principle of operation, the FDD largely resembles hard drives. Inside the floppy disk, 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 differences. First of all, FLOPPY DISK is not made of solid material, but from a flexible polymer film, similar to the film of the magnetic tape. That is why disks of this type are called flexible. In addition, Floppy Disk does not rotate constantly, but only when the request comes from operating system to read information.

The advantage of FDD compared to the hard drive is the changeability of carriers. However, FLOPPY DRIVE disadvantages also have a lot. In addition to the extremely low speed of operation, this is the lowest storage reliability information, as well as the low capacity of the carrier - approximately 1.44 MB for 3.5-inch floppy disks. True, when using non-standard formatting methods, the floppy disk capacity can be slightly increased, but, as a rule, it leads to an even greater decrease in the reliability of the recording.

Varieties

In personal computers type IBM. PC used two main varieties of FDD - 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch. Both drive types are designed for floppy disks. different types and sizes are incompatible with each other. This situation is different from the one that takes place in the case of optical drives that can read both 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch discs. At one time, there were also 8-inch FDD, but already in the 80s. Such drives came out of use. In about the 1990s. Finally came out of the consideration and 5.25-inch drives. The 3.5-inch floppy drive lasted longer until the end of the 2000s, and now their occasionally can be found.

Comparative dimensions 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 inches

The 5,25-inch floppy disk is a disc in a cardboard case resembling an envelope, and has a slot for reading head. Such a floppy fully justifies its name "flexible", since its housing can be bent without much effort. However, intentionally bending a flexible magnetic disk is not recommended, since it will almost inevitably lead to its failure.

This shortcoming is deprived of a 3.5-inch diskette. In it, the magnetic disk is enclosed in a hard plastic case and bend it with his hands so simply will not work. In addition, the 3.5-inch diskette has a special metal curtain that hides the slot for the reading head. Another feature of the floppy disk is the presence of a switch that blocks the record to the disk. The volume of the standard 3.5-inch floppy diskette is 1.44 MB, which is more than the maximum volume of a 5.25-inch diskette, which is 1.2 MB.

Examples of floppy disk - left for the right 8, 5.25, and 3.5.

The 3,5-inch FDD design also differs from the design of 5.25-inch. If when inserting a floppy disk to the slot of a 5.25-inch drive, the user needs to fix the lever with a rotation flush, then the 3.5-inch fixed in the actuator automatically, and the diskette emissions are reversed with a special button.

As in the case of many other drives exist mobile versions Drive on flexible disks - external floppy drives. The external floppy disk drive is convenient because it does not occupy space in system blockEspecially in the event that the need to use the diskette rarely occurs. A similar FDD drive can be connected to a PC using a USB connector or LPT connector.

Application

Although the hard drives appeared in the first IBM-compatible personal computers, however, without a device for interchangeable drives, no computer could do. A similar device was a floppy disk drive, quickly gained popularity due to simplicity and low cost of both the drive itself and carriers of the information diskette.

However, in some cases, the floppy drive could and completely replace hDD. When the author's data author appeared the first IBM compatible computer, he did not have a hard drive, nor, especially optical drive, but only a 3.5-inch floppy drive and provided by the PC seller a set of floppy disks. The computer was quite efficient. Of course, speech about using Windows 3, or to launch some voluminous programs, speeches did not go, but when using MS-DOS it was possible to deal with most of the existing time (beginning of 90s) programs and games. This suggests that floppy disks are able to satisfy the basic needs of the user in storing information. In addition, flexible discs were indispensable in the case when it was necessary to restart the computer for prophylactic check or install a new OS.

Setting up a floppy disk drive in BIOS

In BIOS, there are several options that allow you to configure the parameters of the disc drives for flexible disks. For example, the option allows you to disable the drive controller for flexible disks, if applicable is not used in the system, and thereby release one system interruption. Also, in some BIOS, you can set the type and volume of the drive carriers, as well as set the ban on the flexible discs.

Conclusion

Today, many users may not know how the floppy drive and even the usual diskette looks like. Their functions assumed memory cards and flash drives. In most system blocks about FLOPPY Drive, it reminds that the 3-inch external compartment remained for them, and in the Windows OS, the unused the first letters of logical disks (A and B) reserved for floppy disk drives. However, the diskette drive can often be found in old computers. In addition, floppy drives can be useful when loading a PC in order to conduct preventive computer maintenance activities or when installing the OS.

A little more than forty years ago, first computer floppy disks appeared, and thirty years ago, all known 3.5-inch floppy disks came out. And they are still produced! Nowadays, for the transfer of information, use flash drives and external hard drives, and all previous developments are already almost committed to oblivion. IT. Tut.BY studied which interchangeable carriers left a noticeable track in computer history, and which could be the standard for many years ahead.

Here we will look at only floppy disks and cartridges with magneto-optical discs, which are inserted into the reading devices, and we will not disassemble the usual discs and tape drivers with a magnetic ribbon.

Diskette 8 "(FLOPPY DISC)

Developer: IBM.

Year of release: 1971

Dimensions: 200x200x1 mm

Volume: from 80 kb at the beginning of the release up to 1.2 MB

Distribution: ubiquitous

In 1967, a group for the development of new flexible discs is organized under the leadership of Alan Shugart. In 1971, the first eight-die-free floppy disk was released on the market: a round flat flexible disc in a plastic envelope with dimensions of 20x20 cm. Because of its flexibility, the novelty received the name FLOPPY Disc - "Flexible Disk". At first, the container was only 80 kilobytes, but over time the record density managed to increase, and through the heels of the years, the diskettes could already accommodate more megabytes of information.

Dile 5.25 "(Mini Floppy Disk)

Developer: Shugart Associates

Year of release: 1976

Dimensions: 133x133x1 mm

Volume: from 110 KB at the beginning of release up to 1.2 MB

Data exchange rate: up to 63 kb / s

Distribution: ubiquitous

Two years after the release of the first eighty detection disks, Alan Shugart basses its own company Shugart Associates, which after three years introduced a new development - a five-fashionable floppy disk and drive. The company also noted the development of the SASI standard, which was subsequently renamed SCSI. The floppy disks were one-sided and bilateral, many computer developers used their own ways Formatting and recording algorithms, which is why discs recorded in one drive could not read in the other. Schoolchildren of the Sunset period of the USSR and the first years of independence of the Union republics downloaded computers from such disks and played the simplest games. By the middle of the eighties, the floppy disk managed to raise ten times. And the company Shugart Associates, by the way, subsequently changed the name for the well-known seagate.

3,5 diskette "(Micro Floppy Disk)

Developer: Sony

Year of release: 1981

Sizes: 93x89x3 mm

Volume: from 720 KB at the beginning of release up to 1.44 MB (standard), up to 2.88 MB (Extended DenSity)

Data exchange rate: up to 63 kb / s

Distribution: ubiquitous

In 1981, Sony offers a completely new diskette view: three-dimensional. They were no longer a truly flexible, but the name remains. Now the magnetic circle was enclosed in plastic three millimeters thick, and the hole for the heads was covered with a spice curtain. These curtains, especially metallic, in the course of operation loose and fucked, and often broke off inside the drive and remained there. Floppy disks are very popular and different manufacturers Computers equipped their cars with them. Sony released several models of digital cameras, the record in which was carried out on the floppy disks. The standard diskette capacity has increased to 1.44 MB by 1987, and a little later, thanks to even greater recording density, it was possible to "squeeze" up to 2.88 MB. Intelligence students in hostels (including Belarusian) for money "overclocked" flopopics to 1.7-1.8 MB, and they could read in conventional drives. In spite of everything, three-time floppy disks are still manufactured. The diskettes were almost separated, but so far in many programs the "Save" command icon is made in the form of a floppy disk.

AMSTRAD DISC 3 "(Compact Floppy Disc, CF2)

Developer: Hitachi, Maxell, Matsushita

Release year: 1982

Sizes: 100x80x5 mm

Volume: from 125 KB at the beginning of release up to 720 kb

Distribution: Pretty wide - mainly computers Amsstrad CPC and AMSTRAD PCW, also Tatung Einstein, ZX Spectrum +3, Sega SF-7000, Gavilan SC

Amstrad, famous manufacturer Computers, I decided to go my own way and promoted three-dimensional diskettes of another format from Hitachi. It looks even more amazing what the company founded that Alan Shugart, who developed the first disks. The magnetic disk itself inside the hull occupied less than half of the free space - the rest accounted for the mechanisms of protecting the carrier, which is why the cost of these discs was pretty high. Despite the fact that these floppy disks are more expensive than the standard 3.5-inch flopopics with a smaller amount of memory, the company promoted them quite a long time and a lot succeeded: Amsstrad CPC computers were released more than 3 million pieces.

Bernoulli Box.

Developer: Iomega.

Year of release: 1983

Sizes: Bernoulli Box: 27,5x21 cm, Bernoulli Box II: 14x13,6х0.9 cm

Volume: from 5 MB at the beginning of release up to 230 MB

Data exchange rate: up to 1.95 MB / s

Distribution: Small

Iomega, subsequently, one of the main "whales" market of interchangeable media, in 1983 developed the original Bernoulli Box disk. In it, the flexible disk rotates at a high speed (3000 revolutions per minute), as a result of which the surface of the disk directly under the read head bends and does not contact it: read / write operations are performed through an airbag. Equations for describing these air flows in the 18th century suggested prominent Swiss scientist Daniel Bernoulli. Thanks to this development, the company gained fame, although the first products did not differ in no capacity, nor portability: the first cartridges were dimensions of 27.5x21 cm and had only 5 megabytes of information. The second generation decreased in size to about four, and the amount of memory by 1994 increased to 230 megabytes. But by the time the magneto-optical discs began to promote actively.

Magneto optical drive (Magneto-Optical DRIVE, MO)

Developer: Sony

Year of release: 1985

Dimensions: 133xx133x6 mm, 93x89x6 mm, 72x68x5 mm for minidisc

Volume: from 650 MB to 9.2 GB in 5-inch, from 128 MB to 2.3 GB in 3.5-inch, 980 MB of "Minidis"

Data exchange rate: up to 10 MB / s

Distribution: Significant

Magneto-optical discs look like regular standard and reduced size CDs enclosed in a box. But at the same time they have an important difference: the record is carried out by a magnetic manner, that is, first the laser warms the surface to a large temperature, and then the magnetization of the plots changes the electromagnetic pulse. The system has great reliability and resistance to mechanical damage and magnetic radiation, but provided low speed recording and possessed high energy consumption. And the disks and the drives were expensive, so it was very widespread as CDs, the magnetooplastics did not receive. It constrained the distribution and the fact that very long such discs allowed to record the data only once. But in some industries (for example, medicine), where the maintenance of a large amount of information is required for a long time (and the models "live" up to 50 years) technology gained recognition. Sony still produces magneto-optical discs of both small and large sizes. Minidiscive music discs, presented by the same Sony company in 1992, is a special case of magneto-optical disks. If at first they allowed to record only music, then modifications MD DATA (1993) and Hi-MD (2004) provide a record of any data volume, respectively, 650 MB and 980 MB. "Minida" is still produced.

SyQuest wheels

Developer: SyQuest

Year of release: about 1990

Dimensions: format 5.25 "(approximately 13x13 cm) and 3.5" (approximately 9x9 cm)

Volume: 5.25 ": 44, 88 and 200 MB; 3.5": 105 and 270 MB

Distribution: average (mainly with Macintosh computers)

QYQuest, founded in 1982 by the former employee of Seagate Said Yoftikar, entered the market with removable hard disks for IBM XT computers. Later, the firm has developed several different cartridges. The most popular steel 5.25-inch cartridges SQ400 / SQ800 / SQ2000 (volume of 44, 88 and 200 MB), as well as 3.5-inch SQ310 / SQ327 (volume of 105 and 270 MB). The main disadvantages, in addition to the sizes, was that later systems were not fully compatible with earlier. So, the drives for 200 megabyte disks could only read 88 megabytes, but could not write to them. Younger systems could neither read or write to the elders. In the year of exit, 44 megabyte discs cost about 100 dollars. A variety of low-quality standards and the lack of a normal product name for this or that technology did not allow the discs to gain wide popularity. Magneto-optical discs provided a greater volume, and soon zip-discs from Iomega appeared.

Floptical

Developer: Insite Peripherals

Release year: 1991 (Insite Floptical), 1998 (Caleb UHD144, Sony Hifd)

Sizes: 93x89x3 mm

Volume: 21 MB (Insite Floptical), 144 MB (Caleb UHD144), 150-200 MB (Sony Hifd)

Data exchange rate: up to 125 kb / s

Distribution: very small

Another magneto-optical technology, but another type. The information is read by magnetic heads, and the optical subsystem (infrared LEDs) ensure the accuracy of the positioning of the head. Thus, instead of the usual 135 tracks on an inch, like floppy disks, a record density in 1250 tracks per inch has achieved. FlopTical drives were compatible with conventional 3.5-inch diskettes, and at first the floptical discs were positioned as a successor diskette, but this did not happen. Seven years later, Caleb Technology has developed its own similar system - Caleb UHD144, and Sony has released Sony Hifd discs. Both of these systems were also compatible with conventional diskettes and both were also called as discrects, but they were waiting for a loud failure on the market, because by that time the interchangeable media market was captured by the IOMEGA ZIP-disks by 100-250 MB.

ZIP DRIVE (Iomega Zip)

Developer: Iomega.

Year of release: 1994

Sizes: 98x98x6 mm

Volume: from 100 MB at the beginning of release up to 750 MB

Data exchange rate: about 1 MB / s

Distribution: very wide

CDs were still expensive and did not allow to erase records (CD-RW appeared only in 1997), magneto-optical discs were roads and voracious, and the capacities of ordinary disks were missing. Iomega finalized the magnetic record technology and presented Zip-discs: the size of a little more floppy disks, and the capacity is already 100 megabytes. The head to the disk was tested on top, and on the side, and the data exchange rate was about 15 times faster than the conventional diskettes. The drives were produced in several formats - both external and internal, elegant and blue, which could be plagged on the table or vertically. Technology quickly gained popularity. Despite the "smoke of death", which were a sign of the release of disks, "Zipi" was successfully sold. In the year of outlet, drives were worth 100 dollars, and discs - $ 20; Later, 250 megabytes (rounded shape, but the same dimensions) and 750-megabyte (familiar form) appeared. From the beginning of the two-thousand, the popularity of ZIP-discs went to the decline, but Iomega still sells 100 megabyte discs on 9 dollars per piece, and "seven hundred and hundredths" - 12.5 dollars. Many of the old technicians are still using epochemical devices.

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Diskette

Diskette

plastic envelope cassette with flexible magnetic disk (floppy disk); A device for long-term storage of information and, if necessary, transfer it from one computer to another. Contemporary discreta 3.5 inches contains a flexible disc from the artificial film - Mailara with a magnetic coating. To read and write diskette information placed in a special electron-mechanical device - drive. Almost all models of modern personal computers are equipped with drives for 3.5-inch diskettes. The diskette has a central hole for pairing with a drive drive and a rectangular neckline to access the magnetic reading and writing discs, closed with a metal curtain. A flexible disk is divided into concentric paths, each of which, in turn, is divided into sectors. On the surface of the floppy disk there is 80 magnetic tracks for recording. The record is made on both sides of the surface of the floppy disk. Standard Capacity 1044 MB detection. We used in the 1980s. Doubles of 5.25 inches (133 mm) to gray. 1990s. Out of use. Information on the floppy disk can be recorded repeatedly, so the diskettes are widely used, despite the insufficient and relatively small container. Before first use, the diskettes must be initialized (format). This operation is performed using special Program. When formatting, the fitness of the floppy disk to record is checked. Many manufacturers sell diskettes already formatted.

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

Synonyms:

Watch what is "floppy" in other dictionaries:

3.5 "... Wikipedia

- [English. Discette Russian Language Foreign Words

Diskette, portable magnetic disk for personal computers. Outside covered with plastic shell. The size of the diskette 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

Diskette, cassette envelope with a flexible magnetic disk. In the center of the diskette there is a hole for installation on the drive. It is mainly used in personal computers for recording and storing information, including programs ... Modern encyclopedia

Cassette Envelope with a flexible magnetic disk (floppy disk). In the center of the diskette there is a hole for installation on the drive. Used mainly in personal computers for storing information, including and programs ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Floppy disk, s, wives (specialist.). Flexible magnetic disk, medium of information for processing on computer. Soft, Hard d. | arr. Discount, Aya, OE. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Swedov. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

SUT., Number of synonyms: 4 Both (1) disk (28) disks (1) ... Synonym dictionary

diskette - s, g. Disquette f., English Diskette. inf. Flexible magnetic disc Media information for computer processing. Krysin 1998. From now on, who wants to quickly get to the authorities on the reception carry a computerized writing lady, not a chocolate, but a magnetic ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicalism Russian Language

diskette - floppy disk, g. and an outdated floppy disk, m ... Dictionary of the difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian

diskette - Miniature magnetic disk placed in a protective envelope. [GOST 25868 91] Themes Equipment. Perifer. Process systems information en diskette ... Technical translator directory

A floppy disk, or a flexible disc, the magnetic disk on which is stored or transferred from one computer to another files (text, graphic, etc.). Text or graphic files can be handed over to the author as an original, if it has ... Publishing Dictionary-Directory

Books

• Computer simulation of semiconductor systems in MatLab 6. 0 + floppy disk, S. G. Herman-Galkin. The proposed book is considering questions practical use MATLAB 6. 0 To solve problems for designing semiconductor systems of the electric drive. Tutorial for technical ...
• Collection of job descriptions (+ diskette), S. M. Grachev. The book is a collection of exemplary samples of instructions for general-industry positions of managers, specialists, workers, as well as the activities of enterprises of organizations. To the collection ...

- This is a plastic rectangular thing to which you can record information (files and folders). Another name is a flexible magnetic disk.

This device is used to carry files and folders from one place to another - from one computer to another. To open it on the computer, there must be a special floppy drive.

There are no modern computers such a drive. This is because the floppy disks are considered outdated carriers of information. Many do not even suspect their existence.

If there is no device for flexible magnetic disks on your computer, and you need to work with them, then floppy drive can always be bought separately and connect to a computer.

Why do people refuse disks? The main reason is that there is little information on it. You will not be able to write music, video - especially, yes and a photo good quality This device also does not fit.

Only 1.44 MB placed on a flexible magnetic disk.

Another minus floppy disk is that they are unreliable. You can use it for several years, and everything will be fine, but you can accidentally drop - and it will never open again. Someone says that they are spoiled in the subway. Someone - that because of sunlight or cold. But no one can say for sure. Therefore, if you are going to write something on a floppy disk, buy a better two thing and write down the same thing and on the second one.

Do not allow moisture from entering, protect from heat and cold. Some advise to wear a floppy disk in a "file" (transparent packet for documents).

How to open a floppy disk

To view information recorded on a flexible magnetic disk, you need to open "Computer" (my computer)

And open in it "drive 3.5 (A :)"

Features of flexible magnetic disks

At the bottom of this device there are two "windows" (small holes). One is always open - it is simply not closed, the other can be open, and can be closed. When the window that can close is open, it means that you cannot either either delete with a floppy disk or write to it. But it is only worth close the window, as the ability to write and write, and wash.