| Floppy disk drives were originally
introduced commercially as a read-only device to hold microcode and diagnostics for large
IBM mainframe computer systems in the early 1970s. They were an 8 inch drive with less
than 100K of storage capacity and only write capability. In 1973 IBM upgraded the 8 inch
floppy to read/write capability, 250K, and double sided recording with increased density. In 1978 Shugart Associates introduced the 5.25 inch disk drive which was originally less than 100K and single sided density. It eventually received the same enhancements as the 8 inch drive and the discs became double density and double sided with 1.2MB storage capacity. When the IBM ‘AT’ personal computer used the drive and it soon became a popular commercial floppy drive. |