Asked By
anonymous
7060 points
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Posted on - 12/22/2011
Different Types of Floppy Diskettes?
Can anyone help me understand?
Thanks in advance.
Answered By
test115
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#82068
Different Types of Floppy Diskettes
1. 3 1/4-inch Drive
3 1/4-inch floppy disk was a magnetic drive which had a plastic case. The storage capacity of a double-density disk was 730kb and of a high-density disk was 1.44MB. Since the capacity was comparatively small so that multiple disks had to be used to load some programs, for example Windows 3.0 on the old personal computers.
2. 5 1/4-inch Drive
5 1/4-inch floppy disk drive was very common in 1980's and early 1990's which between 360 KB and 1.2 MB data could be stored. Both sides could be used to write data if floppy disks were modified therefore the manufacturers manufactured double-sided drives which read disk’s both sides.
3. Zip Drive
Zip drives were produced in mid-1990s by Iomega Inc. And 750MB, 250MB and 100MB data could be stored on a single disk. A zip drive was very expensive and usage was limited therefore it eventually became unpopular storage mediums.
Formatting
Every floppy disk had to be formatted before storing any data that a process named low-level format and some specific sectors were written to the disk. Each sector had normally 512 bytes. This formatting process was done in floppy disk drive and operating system then could write to and read any formatted disk.
Legacy
Floppy disk drives, both 3 1/4-inch and 5 1/4-inch were obsolete to be used as a medium of storage. In case the operating system encountered any problem, a floppy disk drive could be used to start a command prompt. Floppy disks were used to upgrade computer BIOS though this usage phased out. Today manufacturers no longer installed a floppy drive in the new computer. For details, please see
https://itstillworks.com/types-of-floppy-disk-drives-10248.html
Answered By
pjamz
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#82069
Different Types of Floppy Diskettes
Hello,
Floppy diskettes store data from the computer. The types of floppy disks include 3” drive, 5” drive and zip drive. In order to store data, a formatted diskette is required for a floppy disk.
The 5” floppy disk drive has a capability to hold data within a range of 360 KB and 1.2MB. This diskette uses a square shaped magnetic disk.
The 3” floppy disk is made from a small magnetic disk which is encapsulated in a plastic shell. It is capable of holding data from 730 KB and 1.44MB. However, the 3” floppy diskettes are no longer installed on the latest computer systems.
Introduced in the 1990’s is a floppy disk that is called a Zip Drive. This also uses magnetic disk that is made in a plastic. Many people prefer having this floppy disk because it is capable of holding larger data from 100mb, 250mb and up to 750mb.
To store data, floppy disks have to be formatted. This will allow the system to read and write data on the disk.
Hope this will help.
