Emerging Technology

Obsolete Technology: Floppy Disk
Emerging or Emerged Technology: Flash Drive

Innovation and technology advancement renders eguipments and tools obsolete very frequently. New and improved developments displace what we may, at one time regard as great and a must have redundant. This is the case with floppy disk and flash drive.


Floppy disks are small, removable, media storage devices. They record data onto a thin, circular magnetic film encased in a flat, square plastic jacket. Floppy disks are somewhat antiquated, having been replaced by Flash drive, sometimes, called memory sticks and re-writable CD storage devices. Original floppy disks were 8-inch floppies used in 1971-1975, but the first floppy disks that were widely used commercially were 5.25-inch disks. These floppy disks were quite flexible and required a 5.25-inch floppy drive. The disks could store up to 360 kilobytes (KB) of data, or about one third of a single megabyte. Later, high-density floppy disks held 1.2 megabytes (MB) of data. These floppy disks were widely used until about 1987.
As the technology of floppy disks improved, the next generation was smaller and eventually held more data. The newer 3.5-inch floppy disks also had hard shell cases for protection, making them less floppy. Some 3.5-inch floppy disks only utilized one side of the internal magnetic film for recording data, with a capacity of 744 KB. High-density 3.5-inch floppy disks doubled the capacity to 1.44 MB. In fact there were several configurations, including single or double sided (SS or DS), and single or double density (SD or DD).
Recently, manufacturers have stopped producing floppy disks. PC World, a major British computer supplies retailer, announced that it will stop selling floppy disks as soon as the ones it has on hand run out. Other retailers have made similar announcements too.
It's not like anyone is really using floppies anymore. Since 1998, computer companies have been phasing out floppy disk readers in favor of CD drives and then USB ports, both of which read information at much higher volume, speed, and accuracy. The magnetic technology of floppies has gone the way of bronze shields.
But there is still a bit of nostalgia about the floppy disk era. The floppy disk was probably the last relic of the first computers. It's much more similar to cardboard punch cards than to your new flash drive. Vacuum tubes that could fill up a decent-sized lecture hall were high tech back when floppies were considered the Next Big Thing.
Today, the use of floppy drives has diminished. This happened because they became obsolete. A new and better way to store and transfer data was created in a flash drive. These flash drives are more convenient in transferring data because they can hold a greater amount of data and are more durable than the floppy disk. The flash drive was not the first improvement to floppy disks. The first improvement came with the Zip disks. These disks may have looked like a regular floppy disk but could store more memory and was a little more durable. These disks didn't catch on because almost all computers had to have a zip disk drive installed onto it. This is where the flash drive came in. It could hold the amount of memory a zip disk could if not more and was also a fraction of the size, it was more durable, and most importantly, it is easy to use with all computers, with quick and easy installation through the USB ports.
USB flash drives are a convenient medium for storing and transporting files. They are quite durable when compared to floppy disks. Their large capacity is very convenient for storing files.