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Invention

Floppy Disk

Computer Engineering

A floppy disk is a type of disk storage made from a thin, flexible disk coated with a magnetic storage medium and enclosed in a plastic shell. IBM introduced the first floppy disks, an 8-inch format, in 1971; Shugart Associates introduced the smaller 5 1/4-inch version in 1976, and the 3 1/2-inch format became the dominant standard by the late 1980s. Floppy disks became the ubiquitous means of storing and transferring computer data through the late 20th century, so pervasive that their image is still used as the save icon in much modern software, before being superseded by USB flash drives, memory cards and cloud storage.

Facts
YearSourced to the subject's own account
1971 1
SignificanceSourced to the subject's own account
IBM's 1973 introduction of the 3740 data entry system, using what IBM called the Diskette 1, established the floppy disk as an industry standard for information interchange. 1
Sources
1. Floppy Disk (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • lead section, History paragraph, sentence 1
    The first floppy disks, invented and made by IBM in 1971, had a disk diameter of 8 inches (200 mm).
  • History section, 3740 data entry system sentence
    it was IBM's 1973 introduction of the 3740 data entry system that began the establishment of floppy disks, called by IBM the Diskette 1, as an industry standard for information interchange.
  • In Group: Computer Data Storage Devices and Media, A floppy disk, diskette, or floppy diskette is a type of disk storage made from a thin, flexible disk coated with a magnetic storage medium.
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