From paper tape to data sticks: The evolution of removable storage

Over the years, people have tried to transfer information from one computer to another in a dizzying number of ways. Here's a look at some of the best, along with others that time forgot.

By Benj Edwards

prev next

The Floppy Diskette

IBM introduced the first commercial floppy drive in 1971. It worked with 8-inch flexible disks coated with a magnetic material and permanently encased in a plastic sheath.Users quickly recognized that, for loading data into computers, floppy disks were faster, cheaper, and more space-efficient than stacks of punch cards. In 1976, the floppy's co-inventor, Alan Shugart, created a new 5.25-inch floppy drive for personal computers. That disk size remained an industrywide standard until the latter half of 1980s, when Sony's 3.5-inch floppy format (invented in 1981) achieved marketplace dominance.

By 2002, though, people had begun to ask, "What has your floppy drive done for you lately?"

Photos: Benj Edwards

1 of 20

From paper tape to data sticks: The evolution of removable storage

The Floppy Diskette

Related Slideshows

Most Popular

Best Deals on PCWorld

Most Commented

Best Deals on PCWorld