floppy disk

Definition of floppy disk in English English dictionary: A removable disk used for storing digital data, measuring between 2 and 8 inches diagonally and storing between 80 KB and 240 MB; A small portable flexible magnetic disk used for data storage on many microcomputers Floppies come in 3 and a half and 5 and a quarter inch sizes, with several densities and formats; Typically, a removable computer storage medium consisting of a thin flexible plastic disk, coated with a magnetic material on both sides The most common type, a 3 5-inch, is protected by a hard plastic case; A disk which is covered with protective packaging and can be removed from its drive Currently, floppy disks are generally 3 5 inches wide The protective covering on 3 5"_disks_is_hard plastics_prompting_some_to_think_that_these_are_hard_disks_but_they are_not __The_media_inside_is_the_same_floppy_material_as_that_inside the_older_5 25" disks Floppy disks also come in different densities and care must be taken to use a disk of appropriate density or data may be lost from the disk Floppy disks are noted for their relatively slow speed, small capacity, and low price; Also known as a "floppy" "floppy diskette"; it's the disk that is used to store and transport data, usually 3 5 inches; A portable magnetic storage medium for computer data Floppy disks typically hold 1 44 MB of information; Portable storage media Not to be confused with Hard Disk named because old type 5¼” disks were floppy to touch, 3½“ disks however have a rigid casing, but are still referred to as floppy Floppy disks are slower to access than hard disks and have less storage capacity Main advantage of floppy disks is that they are portable thus allowing data be taken from one computer and read on another Floppies come in two sizes; A physically flexible magnetic storage disk Note that both 3 5-in and the old 5 25-in diskettes are ``floppy '' 3 5-in diskettes typically can hold 1 44 MB of data Compare hard disk; (FD) A removable, portable magnetic disk on which data and programs can be stored Also called diskettes, floppies are flexible plastic The older 5-1/4 inch disks are more flexible; the 3-1/2 inch disks have a hard protective case around them and are the primary size used now; Also called diskette This is the magnetic storage medium used to store and transfer data, usually between personal computers that are not networked; A relatively inexpensive, flexible, plastic disk for storing digital data on both sides of its magnetic surface The amount of data depends on the diameter of the disk and the technology for recording the data See DISK STORAGE; A small, portable magnetic disk that is used to store and transport computer data Sometimes called a diskette; A removable disk, on which information can be stored and from which it can be retrieved There are two common varieties of floppy disks, referred to by their size: 5 25 inch and 3 5 inch The latter is enclosed in a hard plastic shell, but is still a ``floppy'' disk; A removable disk, also called a diskette; removable external memory device used for storing computer programs or data; A floppy disk is one of many kinds of computer file storage device Like the hard disk on your computer, a floppy disk will allow you to save a copy of a file to it Floppy disks have the advantage of being portable This allows files to be opened on different computers Compared to other storage devices they are quite 'small' This means their capacity to store files is limited (to 1 4Mb) They are still more than adequate for most people's needs, such as storing word processed documents; A removable storage medium Standard 3 5 inch floppy disks can store just over 1MB of information Because floppies have been the most widely used removable storage medium since the mid-to-late 1980s, they are the most convenient way to transfer files between computers; A thin portable plastic disk usually 3 5" in diameter on which electronic files can be recorded Typically holds over I Megabyte of data; a small plastic magnetic disk enclosed in a stiff envelope with a radial slit; used to store data or programs for a microcomputer; "floppy disks are noted for their relatively slow speed and small capacity and low price"; floppy, diskette A magnetic storage medium with a flexible disk inside; cf hard disk; A common removable magnetic computer storage medium, usually a 3 5-inch disk; Flexible magnetic disk used to store information Floppy disks come in 5 1/4- and 8-inch diameters; A flexible, portable magnetic disk for storing and transferring data, available in a 3 5-inch size (for both Macintosh and IBM-compatible computers) and a 5 25-inch size (for IBM-compatibles only) The flexible 3 5 inch disk is housed in a rigid plastic case (See also disc ); flop·py disk floppy disks in BRIT, also use floppy disc A floppy disk is a small magnetic disk that is used for storing computer data and programs. Floppy disks are used especially with personal computers. A flexible plastic disk coated with magnetic material and covered by a protective jacket, used primarily by computers to store data magnetically. Also called diskette. or diskette Magnetic storage medium used with computers. Floppy disks are made of flexible plastic coated with a magnetic material, and are enclosed in a hard plastic case. They are typically 3.5 in. (9 cm) in diameter. Data are arranged on their surfaces in concentric tracks. A disk is inserted in the computer's floppy disk drive, an assembly of magnetic heads and a mechanical device for rotating the disk for reading or writing purposes. A small electromagnet, called a magnetic head, writes a binary digit (1 or 0) onto the disk by magnetizing a tiny spot on the disk in different directions, and reads digits by detecting the magnetization direction of the spots. With the increasing use of e-mail attachments and other means to transfer files from computer to computer, the use of floppy disks has waned, though they are still widely used to keep second (backup) copies of valuable files; Storage medium for computer files consisting of a magnetic, flexible disk enclosed in a 3 1/2" square plastic case Floppy disks may be formatted for use on both Macintosh or PC platforms; A magnetic disk which is used to store data and is often used to transfer files from one PC to another or to backup important files Once available in 5 25 and 8 inch formats, the outmoded floppy disk is now only commercially used in its hard cased 3 5-inch guise With a tiny capacity of only 1 4 megabytes, the floppy disk is set to become a medium of the past, having been vastly superseded by the Zip Disk, re-writable CD-RW's and eventually DVD-RW's; A form of portable data storage - an electronic briefcase The standard floppy disk is now the hard cased 3 5" disk which is neither floppy nor disk-shaped (until you crack it open) Previously, there was the 5" floppy that was cased in paper Floppies most often fit into the A: or B: drive in the front of your computer (The C: drive is the internal hard disk and the D: drive is now commonly the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive) There are two drive letters allocated to the floppy because for a while computers had drives for both the 5" (A: ) and the 3 5" (B: ) disks before the latter became standard; A floppy disk is a thin piece of magnetically coated mylar enclosed in a plastic jacket Modern floppies are 3 5 inches in size and hold 1 44 Mb of data Such a disk is capable of storing approximately 1 4 million characters, or about 3,000 pages of information This may sound like a lot, but it fills up surprisingly fast, especially if you have included graphics in your documents; A portable magnetic disk on which data and programs can be stored; floppies are flexible plastic
floppy disk drive: A floppy drive; a disk drive for floppy disks
floppy disk drives: plural form of floppy disk drive
floppy disk drive: computer hardware that reads and writes to and from a floppy disk (removable external memory device)
floppy disks: plural form of floppy disk
A floppy disk: floppy
floppy disc: small and flexible disc for storing computer data, magnetic disc for the computer