Brief History of the Hard Disk Drive, A

Paper Tape for Data The first PCs used paper tape and Data cassette recorder the same kind that you listen to music with, using a data cassette for storage was very slow. Removable floppy disks as storage devices did not become popular before 1978 when Apple introduced the disk II. The term "floppy" accurately fit the earliest 8-inch PC diskettes and the 5.25-inch diskettes that succeeded them. The inner disk that holds the data usually is made of mylar and coated with a magnetic oxide, and the outer, plastic cover, bends easily. The inner disk of today's smaller, 3.5-inch floppies are similarly constructed, but they are housed in a rigid plastic case, which is much more durable than the flexible covering on the larger diskettes.