Floppy Disk 

Floppy drives record data onto removable magnetic disks, also known simply as "floppies."

Floppy drives are the cheapest drives available. But with a maximum of 1.4 MB, floppies are no longer a useful backup tool in this day of graphics-heavy files.

The floppy disk is the most popular way of adding or removing data and software from the hard disk. Floppies generally come in two physical sizes, the 3.5-inch and the obsolete 5.25-inch. Even though the 5.25-inch floppy is an obsolete media, a 5.25-inch drive is needed if you want to exchange data with friends or coworkers who do not have the newer 3.5-inch floppy drive. The 3.5-inch drive is currently the standard floppy format, and most software sold in retail stores comes in the 3.5-inch format.

Some new floppy drives accept both the 5.25-inch and the 3.5-inch floppies. These combo drives are great if you want to conserve space for other peripherals in your case. The drawback is that if one of the two drives breaks down you have to replace the entire unit.

Another property of floppy disk drives to consider is their density capabilities. The 3.5-inch floppies come in double density and holds 720 kilobytes. The 3.5-inch also comes in high density, which holds 1.44 megabytes. The new ultra high density 3.5-inch disks hold 2.88 megabytes.

A good floppy drive will give a noticeable click when the floppy slides into place inside the drive. The 3.5-inch floppy drives should have a eject button that propels the floppy out far enough to be easily removed.

Some newer desktop computers (Apple's iMac and the latest super-slim PCs) have contributed to the declining usage of floppies by bypassing internal floppy drives completely. The same trend is appearing with laptops, which are striving to stay under 6 lbs.

Brands Available For  Floppy Disks