The Demise of the Floppy Disk
I recently read a rumour that Sony, the inventor of the 3.5" floppy diskette, will soon stop making them. What is surprising is that they have 
managed to last this long, more than twenty years since they first appeared in the Macintosh computer in 1984.
Originally there were the 360KB and 720KB disks, followed by the high density format of 1.44MB (which equals 1440KB) in the mid 80's. Although higher capacity disks were invented, none caught on as a true replacement for the original. Super Disks, Zip disks and the SyQuest technology tried and failed, although each has had some limited success. Once rewritable CDs became widely available, they were standard equipment on PCs but still did not replace the 3.5" diskette. Floppy disks are still standard among students for transferring data between their home computers and school computers!
So what is today's replacement for the floppy disk? The true killer of the floppy disk is none other than the USB drive.
The USB drive has many other names: keydrives, thumb drives, flash drives, USB keys, USB sticks, jump drives, and many more. These are non-volatile (meaning they don't need batteries!), solid state flash memory (no mechanical parts!) with a USB connection, so they can plug into any PC, Mac or even Unix computers. They can hold a huge amount of information. As of this article, the largest I've seen is a 2GB USB drive, and larger ones will be available soon. A level comparison to 1.44MB would mean that you'd have enough space on a 2GB drive to hold about 1,500 floppy disks full of data. That's a lot of homework!
USB drives are a big step forward, they are impervious to dust and scratches, and it is said they can survive being run through the laundry or dropped in water. Some come with security software that requests a password before someone can see the contents (great protection if you are transferring critical files for work). And unlike floppy disks that sometimes fail soon after their first use, USB drives can retain their data for up to 10 years. Their compactness means you can carry it in a pocket or on a keychain.
They are also relatively inexpensive. You can get started with a smaller capacity one for around $25 that holds more than 50 floppies worth of data. If you are bothered by the low capacity or high failure rate of floppy disks, consider getting yourself a USB drive!
managed to last this long, more than twenty years since they first appeared in the Macintosh computer in 1984.Originally there were the 360KB and 720KB disks, followed by the high density format of 1.44MB (which equals 1440KB) in the mid 80's. Although higher capacity disks were invented, none caught on as a true replacement for the original. Super Disks, Zip disks and the SyQuest technology tried and failed, although each has had some limited success. Once rewritable CDs became widely available, they were standard equipment on PCs but still did not replace the 3.5" diskette. Floppy disks are still standard among students for transferring data between their home computers and school computers!
So what is today's replacement for the floppy disk? The true killer of the floppy disk is none other than the USB drive.
The USB drive has many other names: keydrives, thumb drives, flash drives, USB keys, USB sticks, jump drives, and many more. These are non-volatile (meaning they don't need batteries!), solid state flash memory (no mechanical parts!) with a USB connection, so they can plug into any PC, Mac or even Unix computers. They can hold a huge amount of information. As of this article, the largest I've seen is a 2GB USB drive, and larger ones will be available soon. A level comparison to 1.44MB would mean that you'd have enough space on a 2GB drive to hold about 1,500 floppy disks full of data. That's a lot of homework!USB drives are a big step forward, they are impervious to dust and scratches, and it is said they can survive being run through the laundry or dropped in water. Some come with security software that requests a password before someone can see the contents (great protection if you are transferring critical files for work). And unlike floppy disks that sometimes fail soon after their first use, USB drives can retain their data for up to 10 years. Their compactness means you can carry it in a pocket or on a keychain.
They are also relatively inexpensive. You can get started with a smaller capacity one for around $25 that holds more than 50 floppies worth of data. If you are bothered by the low capacity or high failure rate of floppy disks, consider getting yourself a USB drive!
posted by Peter at
8:49 PM
7 Comments:
I would agree the thumb drive is the way to go. Fits in your pocket and is totally portable.
By
Michelle, at 1:59 AM
You got it in a nutshell, michelle! There are many people out there who still use floppies and who have never heard of USB drives - once they do they'll never go back to floppies once they see how easy they are to use!
By
Peter, at 2:18 PM
I for one am happy to see the back of floppy discs. I can't even fathom how much data I've lost to those delicate things.
By
dorna!, at 3:10 PM
Wow. I though floppies were already extinct!
By
Suzi, at 1:39 AM
I tried the Zip disk drives and was one of those people who never received the rebate that they offered.
Jump drive...I have one of those two...very helpful. I had a friend visit me last year and he wanted to work on his resume and it was on 3 1/2 and apple stoped placing 3 1/2 drives on it's computer a while ago so he was SOL.
nice site btw...found you via blogexplosion.
By
J.T., at 8:39 AM
i want to get one of those thumbdrives.
By
carrie, at 8:43 AM
If you want to get one, most major electronics retailers have 1 or 2 models on sale EVERY week. If they don't have the size you're looking for, check back the following week. JT's experience of not getting back the rebate is the subject of my next article! (ooooh and check out JT's site!)
By
Peter, at 9:58 AM
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