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Things to consider when choosing a CD ROM Drive

How CD ROM drive works

Handling DVD Errors

Care and Feeding of a Tape Drive

History of Magnetic Storage

General Hard Disk Features

Advantages and Disadvantages of Tape Backup Drives

Comparing Disk Tape and Flash Memory Technologies

Flash Memory Devices

Introduction in the Microdrive Technology

Tape Drive Backup Software

Magneto Optical Drives

The concept of the floppy disk arose long before the PC was conceived. When the floppy was first conceived, personal computers didn't exist and no one appeared to have any need for the medium as a data exchange. IBM is usually credited with the creation of the floppy, but one that neither looked nor operated like today's floppies. The most obvious difference between the first floppy and current disks was that it was bigger, an 8-inch disk in a slightly larger Mylar envelop (like that of today's 5.25-inch floppy disks). Rather than a read/write medium, it was more an early CD ROM, a read-only disk for distributing information. In particular, IBM used it to store diagnostic programs and micro-code for its large computer system, instead of tape (too cumbersome and many applications didn't require such a large capacity) or memory chips (too expensive). These first floppies held about 100K of data and program code using single-density recording on a single side of the medium. By 1973 the 8-inch floppy had been adapted to a convenient read-write medium suitable for both the original application and for storage of data-entry systems such as IBM's DisplayWriter word processing system.

The eight-inch floppy disks had a number of features going for them that made them desirable as a computer data storage medium . They were compact (at least compared to the ream of paper that could hold the same amount of information), convenient, and standardized. Above all, they were inexpensive to produce and reliable enough to depend on. From the computer hobbyists' standpoint, their random access ability made them a godsend for good performance, at least when compared to the only affordable alternative, the cassette tape.

In 1976 Shugart Associates introduced the 5.25-inch floppy disk, a timely creation that exactly complemented the first commercial PCs, introduced at about the same time. (Both Apple Computer and Microsoft Corporation were founded in 1976, although fledgling Microsoft offered a BASIC interpreter as its first product-its operating system for floppy disks did not arrive until 1981.) Because these were smaller than the older 8-inch variety, these 5.25 inch floppies were called diskettes by some. The irregularly used name later spread to even smaller sizes of floppy disks.

In 1980 Sony Corporation introduced the 3.5-inch floppy disk of the same mechanical construction that we know today. The initial reception was lukewarm to say the least. The 5.25-inch disk was the unassailable storage standard. The little disks, however, gained a foothold in the small computer marketplace when Apple adopted them for their initial Macintosh in 1984. In the PC industry, however, the 3.5-inch floppy remained off limits until about 1986 when the first notebook computers needed a more compact storage system. Its place was assured when first IBM then the rest of the computer industry moved to the new diskette size.

Computer makers experimented with all sorts of floppy formats, including disks as small as 2.5 inches introduced by Zenith Data Systems for an early sub-notebook PC. None of these alternate formats have survived, although in 1996 Iomega Corporation was exploring a two-inch new-technology floppy with about 20 megabytes capacity.

As data needs increased, media and drive manufacturers made several attempts at creating larger capacity floppies. Extra-high Density 3.5-inch floppies, which doubled traditional floppy capacity to 2.88MB, remain available but little used. In 1988, the Floptical drive bumped single-disk capacity to 20MB, but never won more than a small market niche.

In 1996, the PC market saw the introduction of two floppy systems with capacities over 100MB. Iomega Corporation, one of the vendors of Floptical systems, developed a proprietary system called the Zip drive. Shortly thereafter an industry consortium promoted the LS-120 system with not only slightly greater capacity but also backward compatibility with 1.44MB floppy disks.