Floppy disks were magnetic storage media introduced by IBM in the late 1960s. Early 8-inch disks stored small amounts of data for mainframe and early computers. In the 1970s–80s, 5.25-inch and later 3.5-inch versions became standard for personal computers. A 3.5-inch disk typically held 1.44 MB.

They were used to install operating systems, run software, and transfer files before the internet and USB drives. Data could be written and erased, but disks were slow, fragile, and had limited capacity.

By the late 1990s and 2000s, CDs, then USB drives and cloud storage replaced them. Sony ended most production in 2011. Today they are rare but still used in some industrial machines, medical devices, and aircraft systems.

The floppy disk also became culturally iconic as the “save” icon in software.

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