The floppy drive Ī floppy drive (often called drives “A” and “B” on a computer running DOS or Windows) can be connected to or installed in a personal computer (PC).

Floppy disks and drives are no longer manufactured, but are still widely-available as new old stock. Today, floppy disks have been replaced by other storage media, like USB flash drives. The two most popular were the Zip drive and the Jaz drive, both made by Iomega.įloppy disk technology has been around since the early 1970s (the 8-inch floppy was the first). Larger size floppy disks became available in the 1990s. This is usually enough for simple text documents.Ī special type of floppy disk was made in the late 1980s. A normal 3 1⁄ 2 inch disk can store 1.44 megabytes of data. Floppy disks are inserted in to a floppy disk drive or simply floppy drive to allow data to be read or stored.įloppy disks store much less data than a CD-ROM disk or USB flash drive. Some early digital cameras, electronic music instruments and older computer game consoles use floppy disks. Floppy disks are used for moving information between computers, laptops or other devices. The floppy disk is a removable magnetic storage medium.

Format a floppy disk