Dropping the Floppy

What do a Walkman, the runner up on Survivor, and a floppy disk have in common? They all had a good run before they were put out to greener pastures, figuratively speaking. The floppy diskette is not quite out the door yet, but it is looking for its keys. The floppy disk that was once the belle of the ball is giving way to the next generation of storage devices.
The floppy disk, that really is not floppy any more, is plagued by its limitations. Among which are it’s small storage capacity. Floppy diskettes generally have a storage capacity of about 1.44 MB. This is enough to store between one and two dozen average size files. The floppy that is commonplace today is the descendant of a larger and truly floppy floppy disk. The disk was revised from 5.25 to 3.5 inches. Once miniaturized to 3.5 inches, it was then placed in a harder plastic casing. Its diminutive size and portability were among its salient attributes that helped it fend off other storage media that sought to take it place in the market.
Compact Discs, DVDs, Jaz disks and Zip disks all have found niches and varying degrees of preference in the storage media market, but none have dislodged the humble hardworking 3.5 inch floppy disk from it’s position of importance. Theoretical they should have been able remove the floppy. They all offer the ability to store vastly more information than the floppy disk, and they are compatible with other computers assuming that the necessary drives are present. The floppy held two advantages over the other medias for a long period. They were more affordable and they could be reused.
The heir apparent to the floppy is the thumb drive or removable storage device. They offer the portability that many users desire with a major increase in storage space. They connect to the computer by way of the USB port. Most computers sold since about 1998 have a USB port on them. This means that you do not have to worry whether or not that computer has the type of drive that you will need. Simply put, this means that you can store more information on it and take it with you to use on multiple computers with the increased chance of compatibility. It’s newly found status can be seen in the fact that most new laptops and notebooks do not have a 3.5 inch floppy drive. Instead it has an extra USB port and usually a CDR/ DVD drive. You can purchase thumb drives that vary in size from 16 megabytes to over a gigabyte. This more or less allows you have a fast reusable storage device that you can use on the multiple computers that you use. What is even better is since they have been on the market for a while and the prices for them are dropping. I found that prices are noticeably cheaper online than they are in stores.