History of Floppy Disks Timeline

Marcell Jánosi developed the 3-inch BRG MCD-1 at the Budapest Radiotechnic Company in Hungary.

Sony's drive first shipped in the OA-S3300 word processor, announced in 1980 and released in 1981. The Jonos Courier was the first portable computer to ship with the technology.

Sony introduced a 3½-inch floppy-disk cartridge measuring 90.0 by 94.0 millimeters, with a single-sided unformatted capacity of 218.8 KB and formatted capacity of 161.2 KB.

A double-sided version of Sony's 3½-inch floppy disk became available.

The 3½-inch format, first introduced in 1982, began a slower replacement of the 5¼-inch format.

Sony's SMC-70 is often cited as the first computer to use the 3½-inch format, although Sony's technology had already shipped in the OA-S3300 word processor.

Image source: Sony SMC-70

The Microfloppy Industry Committee was formed in May 1982 and eventually grew into a consortium of 23 system, drive, and media manufacturers.

In January 1983, the Microfloppy Industry Committee agreed with Sony on a 3½-inch drive and media specification based on Sony's design, using the speed and interface of standard 5¼-inch drives.

The first single-sided 3½-inch drives compatible with the MIC specification shipped in early 1983, followed by double-sided compatible versions in 1984.

Hewlett-Packard's HP-150 and Sony's MSX computers adopted the initial 3½-inch design in 1983, although the format initially faced competition from the dominant 5¼-inch market.

The Macintosh introduced single-sided 3½-inch disk drives with an advertised capacity of 400 KB, using Group Coded Recording, or GCR.

Image source: Macintosh 128K

Sony convinced Apple Computer to use 3½-inch drives in the Macintosh 128K, making the size a de facto standard.

Atari adopted the 3½-inch format for its ST line, while Commodore adopted it for the Amiga and later for its existing 8-bit computer line.

Apple introduced double-sided 800 KB disks using GCR. IBM soon began using 720 KB double-sided double-density MFM disks in computers such as the IBM PC Convertible.

An MFM-based high-density format, commonly labeled HD and advertised as 1.44 MB, was introduced in 1987. Its common formatted capacity was 1,474,560 bytes, or 1,440 KiB.

The more conveniently sized 5¼-inch floppy disk was introduced and later became nearly universal in dedicated word-processing systems and personal computers.

IBM introduced a 500 KB double-sided single-density, or DSSD, floppy-disk format.

The new smaller drive went on sale late in 1976 at a list price of $400, while a box of ten disks cost $60.

At a 1976 meeting, An Wang of Wang Laboratories told Jim Adkisson and Don Massaro of Shugart Associates that the 8-inch format was too large and expensive for desktop word processors. He argued for a drive costing about US$100.

IBM introduced a 1–1.2 MB double-sided double-density, or DSDD, format.

By 1977, Shugart had been purchased by Xerox. Xerox closed the operations in 1985 and sold the Shugart brand to a third party.

Tandon introduced a double-sided drive, doubling capacity and establishing a DSDD format that increased capacity to 360 KB.

The smaller format became popular, and by 1978 ten different manufacturers were producing 5¼-inch drives.

At the end of 1978, typical floppy disks cost $5 to $8 each. Sales for all drive and media types were expected to reach $135 million for media and $875 million for drives.

I.T.C., later known as Verbatim, held approximately 35 percent of the estimated $135 million floppy-disk market and sold 5¼-inch disks in large quantities for $1.50 each.

By 1979, 77-track 5¼-inch drives were available, primarily for CP/M and other professional computers, including some Commodore disk-drive systems.

Version 1.0 of PC DOS supported only single-sided 160 KB floppy disks.

Image source: IBM PC DOS

By 1982, Apple had switched to cheaper Alps drive mechanisms in its computers, while IBM chose Tandon as its sole PC disk-drive supplier.

DOS 2.0 supported nine sectors per track instead of eight, providing 180 KB on a formatted single-sided disk and 360 KB on a double-sided disk.

The high-density format became possible through a new high-coercivity oxide coating. Earlier density increases had largely resulted from improvements in recording-head technology.

IBM introduced the 5¼-inch high-density format with its new IBM AT machines.

DOS added 3½-inch support in 1986, and IBM released its first computer with 3½-inch floppy drives, the IBM PC Convertible.

Image source: IBM PC Convertible

IBM used the 1.44 MB high-density floppy format in its PS/2 series, introduced in 1987.

Image source: IBM PS/2

By 1988, 3½-inch floppy disks were outselling 5¼-inch disks.

Apple began using HD floppy disks in 1988 with the Macintosh IIx, after which HD floppy drives became nearly universal in Macintosh and PC hardware.

A further oxide-coating advance enabled the extra-high-density, or ED, format with a capacity of 2,880 KB. It was introduced on the NeXTcube, NeXTstation, and IBM PS/2 Model 57.

The Amiga 4000 introduced high-density floppy drives relatively late, storing 1,760 KB and supporting software compatibility with PC 1,440 KB and 720 KB formats.

Image source: Amiga 4000

After 2000, floppy disks became increasingly rare and were used mainly with older hardware, especially legacy industrial and musical equipment.