When and how did floppy disks and disks appear. Floppy drives and floppy disks Disadvantages 3 5 inch floppy disks

One of the oldest devices for storing information on a personal computer is a floppy drive or, for short, FDD (Floppy Disk Drive). This device, which was widely used during the 1970s-2000s, is now rarely seen in modern computers. However, in some cases, you can still see a floppy drive installed in an old PC. In addition, external floppy disk drives are sometimes used, which are connected to the computer through I / O ports.

The first floppy drive and floppy disk (in English - floppy disk) to it were 8 inches wide and were invented by engineer Alan Shugart, who worked at IBM, in the early 1970s. In the mid-1970s, he also developed a 5.25-inch floppy disk and a drive for reading it. In 1981, Sony developed a floppy disk and a 3.5-inch drive. Initially, the capacity of such a floppy disk was 720 KB, but subsequently its capacity was doubled.

There have been repeated attempts to improve diskettes based on the 3.5-inch format. So, for example, in 1987 a 2.88 MB floppy disk drive was developed, and in the late 1990s. – standard LS-120 with even more disk space – 120 MB. However, all these modifications were not widely used, largely due to the high cost of drives and media.

Principle of operation

By the principle of operation, FDD is in many ways reminiscent of hard disks. Inside the floppy disk, as well as inside the hard drive, there is a flat disk with a magnetic layer applied to it, and information from the disk is read using a magnetic head. However, there are also differences. First of all, the floppy disk is not made of a hard material, but of a flexible polymer film, similar to magnetic tape film. That is why disks of this type are called flexible. In addition, the floppy disk does not rotate constantly, but only when a request is received from the operating system to read information.

The advantage of FDD compared to a hard drive is the interchangeability of media. However, the floppy drive also has a lot of disadvantages. In addition to the extremely low speed of work, this is the low reliability of information storage, as well as the low capacity of the media - approximately 1.44 MB for 3.5-inch floppy disks. True, when using non-standard formatting methods, the capacity of a floppy disk can be slightly increased, but, as a rule, this leads to an even greater decrease in write reliability.

Varieties

IN personal computers type IBM PC used two main varieties of FDD - 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch. Both types of drive are designed for floppy disks of different types and sizes and are not compatible with each other. This situation is different from that of optical drives, which can read both 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch discs. At one time, there were also 8-inch FDDs, but already in the 80s. these disc drives have fallen into disuse. Approximately in the 1990s. finally out of use and 5.25-inch drives. 3.5-inch floppy drives lasted longer, until the late 2000s, and even now they can be found occasionally in some places.

Comparative sizes of internal 8, 5.25, and 3.5-inch drives

Examples of floppy drives in order of priority: 8-inch, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch

The 5.25-inch floppy disk is a disk in an envelope-like cardboard case and has a slot for the read head. Such a floppy disk fully justifies its name "flexible", since its body can be bent by hand without much effort. However, intentionally bending a floppy disk too much is not recommended, as this will almost inevitably lead to its failure.

The 3.5-inch floppy disk has no such drawback. In it, the magnetic disk is enclosed in a hard plastic case and it is not so easy to bend it with your hands. In addition, the 3.5-inch floppy disk has a special metal shutter that hides the slot for the read head. Another feature of the floppy disk is the presence of a switch that blocks writing to the disk. The size of a standard 3.5" floppy disk is 1.44 MB, which is more than the maximum size of a 5.25" floppy disk of 1.2 MB.

Example floppy disks are 8, 5.25, and 3.5 from left to right.

The design of the 3.5" FDD is also different from that of the 5.25". If, when inserting a floppy disk into the slot of a 5.25-inch drive, the user needs to fix the floppy disk by turning the lever, then the 3.5-inch one is fixed in the drive automatically, and the floppy disk is ejected back using a special button.

As with many other drives, there are mobile versions floppy drives - external floppy drives. An external floppy drive is convenient because it does not take up space in system unit, especially if you rarely need to use floppy disks. Such an FDD drive can be connected to a PC using a USB connector or an LPT connector.

Application

Although hard drives appeared in the first IBM-compatible personal computers, nevertheless, no computer could do without a device for removable drives. A similar device was the floppy drive, which quickly gained popularity due to the simplicity and low cost of both the drive itself and the storage media - floppy disks.

However, in some cases, the floppy drive could completely replace the hard drive. When the author of these lines got the first IBM-compatible computer, he did not have a hard drive, much less an optical drive, but only a 3.5-inch floppy drive and a set of floppy disks with software provided by the PC seller. The computer was fully functional. Of course, talking about using Windows 3, or running some large programs, was out of the question, but when using MS-DOS, it was possible to deal with most of the programs and games that existed at that time (early 90s). This suggests that floppy disks are able to meet the basic needs of the user in storing information. In addition, floppy disks were once indispensable in the case when it was necessary to restart the computer for preventive checks or install a new OS.

Floppy Drive Setup in BIOS

There are several options in the BIOS that allow you to configure floppy drive settings. For example, the option allows you to disable the floppy drive controller if one is not used in the system, and thereby release one system interrupt. Also, in some BIOSes, you can manually set the type and size of the drive media, as well as set the prohibition of writing to floppy disks.

Conclusion

Today, many users may not even know what a floppy drive and even a regular floppy disk looks like. Their functions were taken over by memory cards and flash drives. In most system units, the floppy drive is only reminiscent of the 3-inch external bay left for them, and in the Windows family of operating systems, the unused first logical drive letters (A and B) reserved for floppy drives. However, a floppy disk drive is not uncommon in older computers. In addition, floppy drives can be useful when booting a PC for preventive maintenance of the computer or when installing the OS.

On the other, special external media (floppies and disks) are used (used). Naturally, technologies do not stand still and more and more new devices are being invented, or the old ones are being improved in terms of data transfer speed and memory size.

In this article, we will look at how and when the first disks, floppy disks, appeared, as well as their main characteristics and features.

Floppy disk 8” (inch)- In 1971, the 8-inch floppy disk and its drive were introduced for the first time. This floppy disk was released by IBM. The disc itself consists of a magnetically coated polymer material in a plastic package. Depending on the number of sectors, such diskettes had different sizes and were subdivided into 80 kb, 256 kb and 800 kb.

5.25" floppy disk - In 1976, Shugart Associates developed and produced the 5.25" disk drive and floppy disks. 5-inch floppy disks quickly gained popularity and supplanted their predecessors. This floppy differed little from the 8-inch parents, except that it was smaller, the plastic cover was stiffer, and the edges of the drive hole were reinforced with a plastic ring. Such disks (depending on the format) contained 110, 360, 720 or 1200 kilobytes of data.

3.5" floppy disk - In 1981, Sony introduced the first 3.5" floppy disk. This floppy was already specifically different from the previous ones. The floppy disk was covered with a rigid case, in the center of the floppy disk there was a metal sleeve, which allowed it to be positioned correctly in the disk drive. Floppy disks were mostly 1.44 MB, but there were also 720 kb, as well as 2.88 MB. This type of diskette lasted the longest on the market and is even still used in many structures and institutions.

Iomega ZIP - In the mid-90s, 3.5-inch floppy disks were replaced by ZIP disks. Outwardly, they resembled 3.5" floppy disks, but were slightly thicker. They were supposed to replace the previous generation, since 1.44 MB was no longer enough to store data. ZIP discs were produced in 100 MB and 250 MB (750 MB even met at sunset). But disks never gained popularity, since disk drives and the disks themselves were very expensive, so people remained faithful to 3.5 ”comrades.

COMPACT DISCS (CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM/DVD+R/DWD-R/DVDRWBlueRay)

The first CD was developed by Sony as early as 1979, and in 1982 mass production of these discs began. Initially, they wanted to use CDs only for audio recordings, but later they began to store all digital data on them. The vice-president of Sony insisted that Beethoven's ninth symphony, which took 74 minutes (under the direction of Wilhelm Furtwängler), could completely fit on the disc, then any classical work would fit on such a disc. If we take the amount of data, then such a floppy disk could hold 650 MB. Starting around 2000, 700 MB (80 minutes) disks began to be produced.

The disk itself consists of polycarbonate coated with a thin layer of metal (aluminum, silver), which in turn is covered with a thin layer of varnish.

In 1988, the format appears CD-R(Recordable - Recordable). This is the same CD, but empty, in other words, "Blank". Any information could be written to it, but then it could not be deleted from the disk.

In 1997, the format appears CD-RW(ReWritable - Rewritable). This is the same CD-R, only now the data from it could be erased and others could be written.

DVD(Digital Video Disk - Digital Video Disc) - the disc had the same dimensions as a regular CD and did not differ in appearance, but had a denser structure. The first discs appeared in Japan in 1996, and their volume was 1.46 GB (DVD-1), which was twice as large as conventional CDs. The 4.7 GB DVD (DVD-5) has become the most popular. The maximum DVD capacity is 17.08 GB (DVD-18).

DVD-R- The first DVD-R was released in 1997 and cost $50 and was 3.95 GB. Many people ask: what is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R? Everything is very simple. Information cannot be erased from both of them, but you can write to “+” before, but not to “-”.

DVD-RAM– Rewritable discs, but unlike DVD-RWs, they can be rewritten at least 100,000 times (regular ones are designed for 1000). Also, information is read much faster and writing to it occurs as on a removable hard drive, i.e. without additional software. Of course, such a disc costs more, and it can not be read in all players.

BD (BlueRay Disc)– a disc with a higher density than DVD. It is mainly designed to record high-definition films there. The disc was first presented to the general public in 2006. Its volume is 25 GB (single layer) and 50 GB (dual layer). There are also mini BD 7.8 GB.

Diskette, floppy disk (KMT), Floppy Disk, jarg. flop− portable magnetic carrier information. It is a plastic disc coated with magnetic material and placed in a protective envelope.

Reading and writing information to a floppy disk is done by means of a disk drive. Recording is done by the disk drive head, which slides over the sling disk and magnetizes the surface.

Story

· 1971 - The first 200 mm (8″) floppy disk with an appropriate drive was introduced by IBM. Usually the invention itself is attributed to Alan Shugart, who worked at IBM in the late 1960s.

1973 - Alan Shugart founds his own firm, Shugart Associates.

· 1976 - Alan Shugert developed the 5.25″ floppy disk.

1981 - Sony introduces the 3.5″ (90mm) floppy disk. In the first version, the volume is 720 kilobytes (9 sectors). The later version has a capacity of 1440 kilobytes or 1.40 megabytes (18 sectors). It is this type of floppy disk that becomes the standard (after IBM uses it in its IBM PC).

Later, the so-called ED-floppies appeared (from the English. ExtendedDensity- "extended density"), which had a volume of 2880 kilobytes (36 sectors), which were never widely used

Floppy disk design

The main components of a floppy disk are a magnetic disk that stores information and an envelope that performs a protective function for the disk.

The envelope of the 8- and 5.25-inch floppy disks was made of a material that allowed it to be bent quite easily, which was the reason for calling them "flexible". 3.5-inch floppy disks were already produced in a hard plastic case, but the name was retained behind them.

Two main holes are made in the envelope: one in the center so that the spindle motor can capture and rotate the magnetic disk, the other is extended from the center to the edge, and serves to allow the heads to touch the surface of the disk. for double-sided diskettes, there is a hole on each side for this. For three-inch floppy disks, the head openings are closed during transportation by a shutter, which opens by the mechanics of the disk drive when a floppy disk is inserted.

The envelope also has a window or cutout for write protection. On 8- and 5-inch floppy disks, you need to seal the cutout for protection (for which a piece of paper with an adhesive layer was supplied with the floppy disk). On a 3-inch floppy, just move the slider in the window to open it.

Organization of information on a diskette

Physically, the information on a floppy disk is a sequence of sections magnetized in different directions, the magnetization sequences are determined by error-resistant coding.

Data is written to a floppy disk in concentric tracks along the direction of rotation of the disk. As a standard, 40 or 80 tracks fit on the side of a floppy disk. Usually it is possible to record 2-4 more tracks, but this is already determined by mechanical stops.

Each track is divided into several sectors. Sector-by-sector recording provides random access in fairly small fragments. Some systems read and write the entire track, and then sectorization may either not be performed or be purely logical. A typical sector size is 512 bytes, although some systems use values from 128 to 1024 bytes. density).

It should be noted that the actual capacity of floppy disks depended on how they were formatted. Since, except for the earliest models, virtually all floppy disks did not contain hard-coded tracks, the road for experimentation in the field of more efficient use of the floppy disk was open to system programmers. The result was the emergence of many incompatible floppy disk formats, even under the same operating systems. For example, for the RT-11 and its versions adapted in the USSR, the number of incompatible floppy disk formats in circulation exceeded a dozen. (The most famous are MX, MY used in DVK).

Adding to the confusion was the fact that Apple used drives in its Macintosh computers that used a different magnetic encoding principle than the IBM PC. As a result, despite using identical floppy disks, transferring information between platforms on floppy disks was not possible until Apple introduced high-density SuperDrives that operated in both modes.

The "standard" IBM PC floppy disk formats differed in disk size, the number of sectors per track, the number of sides used (SS stands for single-sided floppy, DS for double-sided), and the type (recording density) of the drive. The type of drive was marked as SD - single density, DD - double density, QD - quadruple density (used in clones, such as Robotron-1910 - 5.25″ floppy disk 720 K, Amstrad PC, PC Neuron - 5.25″ floppy disk 640 K , HD- high density(differed from QD by an increased number of sectors), ED - extended density.

8-inch drives have long been provided in the BIOS and supported by MS-DOS, but there is no exact information about whether they were supplied to consumers (they may have been supplied to enterprises and organizations and not sold individuals).

In addition to the above format variations, there were a number of improvements and deviations from the standard floppy disk format.

The most famous - 320/360 Kb Iskra-1030/Iskra-1031 floppy disks - were actually SS/QD floppy disks, but their boot sector was marked as DS/DD. As a result, a standard IBM PC drive could not read them without the use of special drivers (800.com), and the Iskra-1030/Iskra-1031 drive, respectively, could not read the standard DS/DD floppy disks from the IBM PC.

Special expansion drivers BIOS 800, pu_1700 and a number of others made it possible to format floppy disks with an arbitrary number of tracks and sectors. Since drives usually supported from one to 4 additional tracks, and also allowed, depending on the design features, to format 1-4 sectors per track more than required by the standard, these drivers provided the appearance of such non-standard formats as 800 KB (80 tracks, 10 sectors) 840 KB (84 tracks, 10 sectors), etc. The maximum capacity stably achieved by this method on 3.5″ HD drives was 1700 KB.

This technique was subsequently used in Windows 98, as well as Microsoft's DMF floppy format, which expanded the capacity of floppy disks to 1.68 MB by formatting floppy disks into 21 sectors in the similar IBM XDF format.

XDF was used in OS/2 distributions, and DMF was used in distributions of various software products from Microsoft.

The pu_1700 driver also allowed for formatting with a shift and interleaving of sectors - this accelerated sequential read-write operations, but deprived of compatibility even with a standard number of sectors, sides and tracks.

Finally, a fairly common modification of the 3.5″ floppy disk format is their formatting to 1.2 MB (with a reduced number of sectors). This feature can usually be enabled in the BIOS modern computers. This use of 3.5″ is typical for Japan and South Africa. As a side effect, activation of this BIOS settings usually allows you to read floppy disks formatted with 800-type drivers.

The extra (non-standard) tracks and sectors sometimes contained copy protection data from proprietary floppy disks. Standard programs, such as diskcopy, did not transfer these sectors when copying.

The unformatted capacity of a 3.5″ floppy disk, determined by recording density and media area, is 2 MB.

The drive height for 5.25″ floppy disks is 1 U. All CD drives, including Blu-ray, are the same width and height as a 5.25″ drive (this does not apply to laptop drives).

The width of a 5.25″ drive is almost three times its height. This was sometimes used by manufacturers of computer cases, where three devices placed in a square "basket" could be reoriented with it from a horizontal to a vertical arrangement.

disappearance

One of the main problems associated with the use of floppy disks was their fragility. The most vulnerable element of the floppy disk design was a tin or plastic casing covering the floppy disk itself: its edges could bend, which led to the floppy disk getting stuck in the drive, the spring that returned the casing to its original position could be displaced, as a result, the floppy disk casing was separated from the case and no longer returned to initial position. The floppy plastic case itself did not serve as sufficient protection for the floppy disk from mechanical damage (for example, when a floppy disk fell on the floor), which put the magnetic media out of action. Dust could get into the gap between the floppy case and the casing.

April 26, 2010, having lived his last, 3.5-inch 24-year life. If anyone remembers, floppy disks are black square storage devices that could once be called flat, with 1.44 MB. Just fit a third of an mp3 song or several documents previously archived. The Ministry of Defense is currently buying them most actively in Russia: one of the experts interviewed told Life that "the archaic nature of floppy disks does not affect the trajectory of missiles." By the way, the American authorities also buy floppy disks, Tom Persky, the owner of the Floppydisk.com floppy disk store, told us.

"I don't know of any company that currently manufactures floppy disks. Looks like the last floppy has already been released"

For most users, Sony's announcement to stop issuing floppy disks went unnoticed. Prior to this, manufacturers gradually stopped producing equipment with floppy drives, these drives in Windows were designated by the letter "A" (under "B" were 5-inch floppies, so the traditional "C" remained - this is the system HDD). If you already knew this or are ready to clarify the previous sentence, then we are connected with you by a feeling of old age.

In 2015, departments purchased floppy disks for at least 300 thousand rubles, from 2010 to May of this year - for 2.3 million rubles. "At least" - because the search function for attached files (technical specifications) has not been working on the public procurement portal for three years, and representatives of the Lanit group refused to fix it. IN new version portal, launched this year, the function is completely absent.

Most of all, the Ministry of Defense needed floppies - from January 2010 to May 2016, the Ministry of War spent 563 thousand rubles on floppy disks, of which 80 thousand rubles were purchases of military registration and enlistment offices.

Floppy disks are purchased for security reasons, to transfer information to the service for protecting state secrets [a structure of the Ministry of Defense], a representative of one of the military registration and enlistment offices told Life. - Basically, floppy disks are used to record secret maps.

What these cards are for and where these cards are used, the interlocutor did not explain, citing state secrets. But it is known that floppy disks, for example, are used to control missiles. The U.S. Accounts Office reported in a report that the U.S. military still uses 8-inch floppy disks to navigate missiles. The US nuclear forces are still dependent on "flopiks", they are planned to be removed from service in 2017.

According to a source close to the Ministry of Defense, "the actual archaism of floppy disks does not affect the trajectory of missiles." The department officially declined to comment on this topic.

For security reasons, floppy disks are also purchased by another law enforcement agency - the Ministry of Internal Affairs, one of the employees of the investigative department told us about this.

You understand, many [police] departments do not have free access to the Internet due to secrecy. So we bring our criminal cases to our bosses for verification, downloading them to floppy disks, and they write the corrected files back to them and give them back to us, ”says Alexei, adding that there is at least a reason to leave the office sometimes for a whole working day.

He noted that there are still many computers in the Ministry of Internal Affairs that are adapted to work with 3.5-inch floppy disks. And that the incompatibility of a number of government agencies with optical discs and flash drives is connected not only with secrecy - supposedly it is about saving.

It's good that in the 21st century you can buy an ordinary floppy disk. They don’t allocate money for flash drives to us, they say that it’s expensive. They cost 150 rubles each, and you can buy a floppy disk on the wholesale market for 25-30 rubles. Well, if there are no markets, then you have to go to large stationery or computer stores. There, a box with ten floppy disks made in Hong Kong costs 400 rubles. The check can be handed over to the accounting department, and after six months the money will be returned. They are just enough for a modest lunch, in a cafe opposite the investigative department, - said the policeman.

But the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not make it into the top ten buyers - because the police, judging by the words of Alexei, stock up on floppy disks themselves. True, they will probably be needed soon - the ministry includes federal Service Drug Control Administration (FSKN), which purchased these media. The Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation told us that floppy disks are a necessary part of the operational activities of customs authorities:

"A 3.5-inch floppy disk, of course, looks wild against the backdrop of iPhones and mobile internet, but precisely because of the huge number of loopholes through which secret information can leak, old floppy disks are needed that allow you to store and transfer information in your pocket, and not through a sieve called the Internet "

Director of information security Softline system integrator Oleg Shaburov (previously worked at the Symantec anti-virus company) noted that he does not see any advantages in floppy disks and cannot call them an archival tool either - due to their vulnerability to magnetic radiation and moisture, the average shelf life on them does not exceed 3-5 years . At the same time, Shaburov recalled that the first of the most common viruses were transferred just to floppy.

"Well, unless the police and customs officers have the expectation that the attackers will not have a floppy drive - or that the virus will not fit on a floppy disk"

In addition to law enforcement agencies, among the largest buyers of floppy disks are also state universities, hospitals and clinics. From January 2010 to May this year, they spent 247 thousand rubles and 243 thousand rubles, respectively. Most universities and hospitals are forced to use floppy disks due to outdated technology. In March of this year, there was even a buzz about the fact that the Russian Academy of Sciences asked young scientists to apply for grants on diskettes, but the requirement was declared optional. The average age of academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences exceeds 70 years.

The top five in purchasing floppy disks also includes the Pension Fund of Russia and city administrations. Over the past six years, they have spent 235,000 rubles and 90,000 rubles on floppy disks, respectively. According to Alexander Burtsev, director of the Internet Partner company, state institutions have become hostages of their infrastructure, and the Pension Fund is still not helped by the multi-million dollar work it regularly pays to upgrade equipment and software.

There are many suppliers of floppy disks in Russia. Among them is the Samara company "Spetsstroysnab" of Elena Cheprasova, which supplies computer and printing consumables.

These are regional divisions of the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, customs, and courts. More often - these are contracts of thousands for 30 rubles, since public services, even the power ones, do not have free money: a crisis, - said a representative of Spetsstroysnab.

The company purchases floppy disks from larger wholesalers that are gradually clearing Asian warehouses. Tom Persky (who sells over 200,000 floppy disks a year) says that he doesn't get orders from Russia very often, and he doesn't sell much to American departments - mostly floppy disks go to companies whose equipment works only on floppy disks. These are embroidery, stamping machines and other special machines.

Floppy disks are running out - their stocks will last another five years. Tom Persky now earns more not on floppies, but on a related service - he is ordered to quickly transfer data from large batches of floppy disks to modern media.

Floppy Disk

Floppy disk 3.5″

Floppy disk 5.25″

3.5″ floppy device:
1 - stub "write protection";
2 - disk base with holes for the driving mechanism;
3 - protective shutter of the open area of the body;
4 - plastic floppy case;
5 - anti-dust cloth;
6 - magnetic disk;
7 - recording area.

Finally, a fairly common modification of the 3.5″ floppy disk format is their formatting to 1.2 MB (with a reduced number of sectors). This feature can usually be enabled in Japan and South Africa. As a side effect, activating this setting

disappearance

The massive displacement of floppy disks from everyday life began with the advent of rewritable CDs, and especially flash-based media, which have a much lower unit cost, orders of magnitude greater capacity, a greater actual number of rewriting cycles and durability.

An intermediate option between them and traditional floppy disks are magneto-optical media, Iomega_Zip, Iomega_Jaz and others. Such removable media is sometimes also referred to as floppy disks.