The Rise And Fall Of The Floppy Disc

I recall, in the early 1980s, when my cousin introduced me to the world of computers. It was amazing for the time, although the clunky boxes and monochromatic monitors of the day don’t much resemble what we have these days. The computer he showed me could do lots of different things, which were amazing for the time… and all of the programs it ran were housed on great big 5 ¼ inch discs.

The floppy disc was the standard for data storage and transfer for almost 30 years. The design of these discs was very simple, which made them easy to use and effective. A magnetic storage medium was housed in a plastic casing, which in turn was lined with fabric to prevent scratches and remove dust. Earlier floppy discs really were floppy, housed in a flexible plastic sleeve and measuring 8 inches at first, and later 5 ¼ inches. Later, 3 ½ inch discs were introduced, housed in a hard plastic case with a metal slider covering the disc’s access area, for added protection.

The first floppy discs were invented by IBM’s David L Noble in the late 1960s, and became commercially available in 1971. At the time they could store a whopping 79.7kb of data. Within five years, this capacity had grown to 6.2mb.

At the same time, though, 5 ¼ inch discs were introduced, and quickly became the preferred format of manufacturers and users, even though they could store less data than their 8 inch cousins.

In 1982, the death knell of the 5 ¼ inch disc sounded when the first 3.5 inch discs appeared. They were smaller, tougher and could potentially store much more data than any disc before.

Through the 1980s and 90s, these discs became ubiquitous, thanks to their increasing capacities and the relative ease with which they could be used to distribute software, store data and create back-ups. By the late 1990s, 3.5 inch high density floppies were offering storage sizes of up to 240mb. But these capacities just weren’t enough for some users, and as technology marched on, the demand for improved storage formats increased.

While software started being distributed on compact disc in the 90s, home users still had to contend with floppy discs… that is, until recordable compact discs became available on the market.
Since then, all manner of data storage media and devices have appeared on the market – DVD discs, Blu-Ray discs, USB drives and external hard drives, just to name a few.

The floppy disc held on valiantly… in fact, it can still be found in use in older PC systems. But the decline of the format has been quick, and soon these stalwarts of the industry may disappear forever.