Define Floppy Disc

A floppy disk, or floppy diskette, is a type of removable computer-data storage device that was widely used before the release of CDs and DVDs. Some modern computers are still sold with floppy disk drives.

Function

Floppy disks function as portable data storage; disks can be inserted into a computer with a floppy disk drive, and information can be deleted., read from or written to the disk similar to using an external hard drive or flash drive.

Benefits

Floppy disks are relatively small and lightweight. Many older computers have floppy disk drives, so you can use floppy disks to copy important data from the computer.

Drawbacks

Floppy disks have a limited storage capacity, so they are not suitable for storing music, video or other large files.

Types

Floppy disks come in several sizes and storage capacities: 3.5-inch floppy diskettes come in 1.44MB, 720KB and 2.88MB sizes, and older 5.25-inch diskettes have lower data capacities.

Considerations

Portable storage devices like USB flash drives and memory cards are much smaller than floppy disks and have far greater storage capacities.

References

• Computer Hope: Floppy Disk

Resources

• Floppy Disk: Example of Floppy Disks