These were capable of 1.44MB and remain the standard in floppy disks until this day (2002), despite successful attempts to put 2.88MB on a disk via enhanced formatting techniques. However, there was soon a new standard - High Density - represented by a human-readable stylized 'HD' in the top right of the disk and a machine-readable hole in the bottom left corner, with the write-protect catch remaining in the bottom-right corner. Borrowing from the advances made in the three-inch disks, as well as enhanced methods of manufacture, they were able to contain 720kB of data in their first standard, Double Sided Double Density. The much later Quad Density disk provided 1.2 megabytes of information on one disk.īut by this time, the 3½" disk was arriving. These disks were also flexible, and were usually contained within individual paper envelopes. Later machines using two disk drives enabled the user to leave the operating system disk in one drive, and only change the application disk. Since these machines had no hard disk, the operating system would have to be loaded on one disk, then removed and replaced by another disk containing the application.
Small enough to fit in a desktop unit, the usual incarnation offered 360kB of storage space. The first floppy disk that was used in home machines was the 5¼". However, they had a small form factor and a rigid case with a slidable write-protect catch, features which would be seen later in the 3½" disk. They remained expensive and did not become standardized. Amstrad incorporated a 3-inch disk drive into their CPC664 and CPC6128 models, among other manufacturers. Home computer manufacturers, who had previously been using tape (compact cassette) to save data too, saw the possibilities for this medium. The reason for the name 'floppy' was that the exterior casing was only soft flexible plastic, leaving them vulnerable to manhandling. Their capacity was extremely limited, by today’s standards, with 160 kilobytes available. These large disks predate the desktop machine, and were mainly used for transferring data between mainframe machines. The original floppy disk was the eight-inch.
#Imation superdisk external drive drivers zip
Unfortunately, the drive became another piece of obsolete technology - as Zip drives have also become, since USB flash drives have replaced them both in terms of cost, capacity, and reliability.A typical 3.5in Floppy disk internal drive. At that point, consumers who opted for the SuperDisk drive over the Zip drive realized that they had made the wrong choice between the two. After losing the competitive battle with Iomega for high-capacity, 3.5" removable disk storage, Imation (and third-party manufacturers) eventually discontinued production of the SuperDisk media. The ingenious attempt to accommodate two types of disk media in a single device, may have forced design compromises to enable dual compatibility. This characteristic noise could be caused by the motor used and/or the thinner style cartridge.
Compared to Zip drives, the SuperDisk drives make such a whirring sound when operating, as if manufactured with inferior components. Perhaps I never gave them enough use to succumb to any inherent design flaws.
I have one of the Bondi Blue/Ice external USB units as well, which hasn't given me any problems - but it sees little use now. I've never had any problems with it, and it still functions normally reading either type of disk. My 1998-vintage Compaq computer shipped with the SuperDisk internal ATAPI drive, in place of the standard issue floppy drive. Except for the smaller plug used, the 5-volt power supply was identical in appearance to Iomega's second-generation Zip Drive power supply. The earlier parallel port version only differed by the connection interface and related circuitry. The external USB drive for PCs is identical to that marketed for Macs. The capability to read floppy disks and its own proprietary 120 MB SuperDisks made it seem like a much more useful device than Iomega's Zip drives. In terms of the concept, the SuperDisk drive was a great invention.