History of Computers - 8-inch Floppy Disk
page by: Harsha Bandi
Contents
Summary
The 8-inch floppy disk was the first floppy disk ever created. The disk was developed by IBM engineers, led by Alan Shugart, and held 100 KB's of data. It was highly praised due to its portability.
Overview
It was made out of flexible plastic with a magnetic iron oxide. Data written to and read from the surface. Inside the floppy disk is a circle of magnetic material that is grabbed by the disk drive and spun in its housing.[1] It was a read-only device.
History
The floppy disk was engineered by a team of IBM workers and Alan Shugart. It was 8-inches in diameter; hence the name 8-inch floppy disk. It was later improved upon by Memorex, Shugart Associates, and Burroughs Corporation. They first became commercially available in 1971. [2]
Successors
Though the 8-inch floppy was handy, it soon became outdated by smaller floppies (5.25 inch, 3.5 inch, 3 inch, 2.5inch and 2 inch) and CD-roms. [3]
http://inventors.about.com/od/computersandinternet/a/FloppyDisk.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-inch_floppy_disk
File:Http://www.adlininc.com/uxpioneers/images/cooper 8floppy.jpg
