A-DISKS too smal in drive space

[XTERMIN8OR1]

I am asking myself the following question since years; why are A-disks so smal in drive space (it's just like 1.44 MB)? With today's technology they could have lots more space! I know; you can make CD's, CD-ROM's, DVD's, DVD-ROM's,...yourself, but though I am asking myself this question.

[WeekendLazyness]

3.5 inch floppies - what you refer to as "A disks" - are so small because they were invented so long ago. The densities of the magnetic material could only be so large at the time, and the data tracks on the disks had to be spaced out because the motors in the drive could only be so precise. Nowadays, the densities of the latest removeable magnetic meida have greatly risen, leading to 750MB zip drives. These rival a CD-R/RW, but aren't really practical because of the cost. If you want bigger data storage, use CD-R/RW, or for portability, use a USB key. This is a little solid-state (read: computer chips only) drive that plugs into your USB port and shows up as a removeable disk. They come in sizes from 32MB to 512MB. I have one and I have found them to be really useful. This is especially because, when I ordered my computer, I didn't include a floppy drive.

[XTERMIN8OR1]

mmh...thx.

[Modred]

Heh...I saw a computer a few days ago with the 5" floppy drive...talk about memories...

[pixels]

8 1/2" floppies are cool too :D

so yeah basically they didnt have the ability to create small bits, so everything was huge. now we have lasers and so forth so writing and reading and manufacturing is uber easier.

[OboeGuru]

Magnetism... what were those guys thinking way back then? ;)

BTW Modred & PiX, it was 5 1/4 " and 8 " Floppies that predated the 3 1/2 "

The 8" floppy held only 250 KB, and that was in the second generation when read/write capability bcame readily available!

And 3 1/2 " dirves could conceivably become troublesome extremely easy. if the read/write head inside the drive were displaced from it's manufactured position more than ±600 millionths of an inch, it would most likely have problems reading disks writte with other drives, especially if it were a disk written with the head displaced in the opposite direction.

[Whiteknight]

Ah, the days when floppy discs were actually floppy, eh?

use a USB key. This is a little solid-state (read: computer chips only) drive that plugs into your USB port and shows up as a removeable disk. They come in sizes from 32MB to 512MB. I have one and I have found them to be really useful.
I've heard about those. They don't hold as much space as a CDRW, but isn't it nice and easy to use, plus doesn't it not take any time to copy information to it? I might get one later.

[Nuts]

5-1/2".......8"......... that's so cutting edge compared to my old Commodore 64 tape drive!

For modern data transfer, I have a 32mb use drive, there is simply no substitute for quick and efficient data transfer. No burning involved, just plug and play into any machine with Win98 or above.

[WeekendLazyness]

Someone was selling 5.25 floppies at a garage sale yesterday, unopened.

Actually, Nick they are using magnetism today in removable storage. There are the popular (but expensive) Zip disks, and the well-known MiniDiscs. Recordable MiniDiscs use magnetism, as explained by the FAQ from minidisc.org:
Recordable MD's are similar, but a pre-groove replaces the pits and valleys and an MO coating replaces the aluminum one. When recording, a laser is focused from one side of the disc onto the pre-groove and heats a spot on the MO recording layer to its Curie point while a magnetic field from a head in contact with the other side of the disc aligns magnetic domains within (read: magnetizes) the heated spot on the MO layer (the N/S orientation corresponding to 0s and 1s in the data). During playback the MD machine focuses the laser on the pre-groove again, but at lower power, and the data is read back by measuring changes in polarization of light reflected from the previously magnetized regions (the Faraday effect).