Editing Floppy disk (section)

{{Short description|Removable disk storage medium}}
{{Redirect|Floppy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
[[File:floppy disk 2009 G1.jpg|thumb|8-inch, 5¼-inch, and 3½-inch floppy disks]]
[[File:Floppy Disk Drives 8 5 3.jpg|thumb|8-inch, 5¼-inch (full height), and 3½-inch drives]]
[[File:Image3,5''-Diskette removed.jpg|thumbnail|A 3½-inch floppy disk removed from its housing]]
A '''floppy disk''' or '''floppy diskette''' (casually referred to as a '''floppy''', a '''diskette''', or a '''disk''') is a type of [[disk storage]] composed of a thin and flexible disk of a [[magnetic storage]] medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a fabric that removes dust particles from the spinning disk. The three most popular (and commercially available) floppy disks are the 8-inch, 5¼-inch, and 3½-inch floppy disks.<ref>{{cite web | title=Floppy Disk: History & Definition | website=Encyclopedia Britannica | date=2009-03-12 | url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/floppy-disk | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240616212241/https://www.britannica.com/technology/floppy-disk | archive-date=16 June 2024 | url-status=live | access-date=2024-06-16 }}</ref> Floppy disks store [[digital data]] which can be read and written when the disk is inserted into a '''floppy disk drive''' ('''FDD''') connected to or inside a [[computer]] or other device.<ref>{{cite web | title=IBM History – Floppy disk storage | website=IBM | date=2024-05-16 | url=https://www.ibm.com/history/floppy-disk | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240616211336/https://www.ibm.com/history/floppy-disk | archive-date=16 June 2024 | url-status=live | access-date=2024-06-16 | quote= }}</ref>

The first floppy disks, invented and made by [[IBM]] in 1971,<ref name="computerhistory.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/261|title=Floppy Disks - CHM Revolution|website=www.computerhistory.org|access-date=October 6, 2017|archive-date=2017-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103071537/http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/261|url-status=live}}</ref> had a disk diameter of {{convert|8|in|mm|1}}.<ref name="Teja_1985"/> Subsequently, the 5¼-inch (133.35 mm) and then the 3½-inch (88.9 mm) became a ubiquitous form of data storage and transfer into the first years of the 21st century.<ref name="Fletcher">{{cite news |last=Fletcher |first=Richard |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2803487/PC-World-announces-the-end-of-the-floppy-disk.html |title=PC World Announces the End of the Floppy Disk |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=2007-01-30 |access-date=2020-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120102061653/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2803487/PC-World-announces-the-end-of-the-floppy-disk.html |archive-date=2012-01-02 |url-status=live}}</ref> 3½-inch floppy disks can still be used with an external [[USB]] floppy disk drive. USB drives for 5¼-inch, 8-inch, and [[Floppy disk variants|other-size]] floppy disks are rare to non-existent. Some individuals and organizations continue to use older equipment to read or transfer data from floppy disks.

Floppy disks were so common in late 20th-century culture that many electronic and software programs continue to use save icons that look like floppy disks well into the 21st century, as a form of [[Skeuomorph#Virtual examples|skeuomorphic design]]. While floppy disk drives still have some limited uses, especially with [[legacy system|legacy industrial computer equipment]], they have been superseded by data storage methods with much greater data storage capacity and [[Computer data storage#Performance|data transfer speed]], such as [[USB flash drive]]s, [[memory card]]s, [[optical disc]]s, and storage available through local [[computer network]]s and [[cloud storage]].