What does it mean that a USB disk does not have a floppy disk?

php editor Zimo’s answer: The USB disk does not have a floppy disk. It means that in modern computers, due to the advancement and development of technology, the traditional floppy disk has been eliminated and replaced by a USB disk. U disk has larger storage capacity, higher transmission speed and better stability than floppy disk. Therefore, the fact that USB disks do not have floppy disks means that modern computers no longer use floppy disks as storage devices, but use more advanced USB disks for data transmission and storage. This is also a reflection of technological progress, providing users with a more convenient and efficient way to store data.

Floppy disks are the earliest removable storage media used in computers. Before the advent of U disks, floppy disks were the main way for people to store and carry data. However, due to their slow speed and limited capacity, floppy disks were phased out more than a decade ago.

In 1967, IBM launched the world's first "floppy disk" with a diameter of 32 inches. In 1971, Alan Shugart introduced an 8-inch-diameter plastic disk coated with metal oxide, which became the ancestor of the standard floppy disk with a capacity of only 81KB. Subsequently, in 1976, Alan Shugart developed a 5.25-inch floppy disk that sold for $390.

Sony introduced a 3.5-inch double-sided floppy disk with a capacity of 875KB in 1979. By 1983, the capacity of floppy disks had increased to 1MB. Subsequently, this 3.5-inch 1.44MB floppy disk became the standard data transfer method for PCs in the 1990s. As of 1996, more than 5 billion floppy disks were in use around the world.

However, with the advent of CD-ROM and USB storage devices, and computers no longer equipped with floppy disk drives, the need for floppy disks gradually decreased. In September 2009, Sony announced that they had discontinued production of 3.5-inch floppy disk drive products in the first half of that year and planned to clear inventory within the same year, thereby completely withdrawing from the market.

The impact of floppy disks on us still exists today. For example, the sorting of computer drive letters does not start from A, but starts from C. This is because in the earliest DOS era, the storage device was not a USB flash drive or optical drive like today, but a floppy disk. Floppy disks are divided into 5-inch large floppy disks and 3.5-inch small floppy disks, which correspond to the B drive and A drive in the computer respectively. The main function of a floppy disk is to facilitate file copying between computers.

With the advancement of technology, hard disks with larger capacity and faster speed have replaced floppy disk drives, such as C drive, D drive, E drive, etc. However, when installing the floppy drive, the system icon still shows drive A or drive B.

For those born in 1995 and 2000, floppy disks may be unfamiliar, but for those who have used them, floppy disks carry precious memories.

(Editor: w.sh)

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