Floppies

Floppy disks are so called because they consist of flexible plastic material which has a magnetizable surface.

Information stored in the RAM is lost when the computer is turned off. Because of this, data and applications are stored in either hard or floppy disks which provide a more permanent backing store.

The surface of a floppy disk is divided into concentric circles or ‘tracks’, which are then divided into ‘sectors’. When you insert a blank disk into a disk drive, it must be ‘initialized’, or formatted, before information can be recorded onto it. This means that magnetic areas are created for each track and sector, along with a catalogue or ‘directory’, which will record the specific location of files.

When you save a file, the operating system moves the read/write heads of the disk drive towards empty sectors; it records the data and writes an entry for the directory. Later on, when you open that file, the operating system looks for its entry in the directory on the disk, moves the read/write heads to the correct sectors, and reads the file into the RAM area.

The 8-inch, 5¼-inch and 3-inch formats can be considered almost completely obsolete, although 3½-inch drives and disks are still widely available. The advent of other portable storage options, such as USB storage devices and recordable or rewritable CDs, and the rise of multi-megapixel digital photography have encouraged the creation and use of files larger than most 3½-inch disks can hold and so such floppies are used very seldom. In addition, the increasing availability of broadband and wireless Internet connections has decreased the utility of removable storage devices overall. The 3½-inch floppy is growing as obsolete as its larger cousin a decade before. However, the 3½-inch floppy has been in continuous use longer than the 5¼-inch floppy.

Since older PC computers often lack the ability to boot from a CD-ROM, floppies are still used for emergency boots in aging systems which may lack support for bootable media such as CD-ROMs and USB devices. They are also still often required for setting up a new PC from the ground up, since even comparatively recent operating systems like Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 rely on third party drivers shipped on floppies; for example, SATA support during installation. They are also still often required for BIOS updates, and as maintenance program carriers, since many BIOS and firmware update/restore programs are still designed to be executed from a bootable floppy disk.

9. Answer the questions.

1) Why floppy discks are so called? 2) What floppies are used for? 3) What the surface of a floppy disk is divided into? 3) What are created for each track and sector when you insert a blank disk into a disk drive? 4) What happenes when you save a file? 5) How does the engine work if you want to open the file from the floppy? 6) What floppy formats can be considered almost completely obsolete? 7) With the advent of what the floppies are used very seldom and why? 8) What floppies are still used and required for?

10. Look at the illustrations and find out:

1. …the two standard disk sizes (dimensions) used with PCs

2. …the meaning of the abbreviations ‘DS’, ‘DD’ and ‘HD’

3. …the storage capacities of double density and high density disks (5.25 inch and 3.5 inch)

4. …the external features of double density and high density disks

5. …the storage capacity of the floppy disk that is made of barium ferrite.

11. Match the words and expressions on the left with the explanations on the right

backing store	a catalogue of where each piece of data is stored and how to find it
floppies	recording heads
disk drive	secondary storage
formatting	diskettes
directory	initializing; setting tracks and sectors on magnetic disks
read/write heads	a peripheral which spins disks and contains a read/write head

12. From the noun magnet we can form other words:

magnetic	magnetically	magnetism	magnetize
magnetizable	magnetized	magnetizing

Decide which part of speech each word is. Then use the correct words to complete these sentences

1. ____________ is the science of magnetic phenomena and properties.

2. Floppy and hard disks are considered as ____________ storage devices.

3. Information is recorded on a disk in the form of ____________ spots called bits.

From the verb record we can build up other words:

recordable

recorded

recorder

recording

Complete these sentences with the correct words

1. All disks must be initialized before information can be ___________ onto them.

2. The ____________ heads follow the tracks and magnetize the coating along each track.

3. A disk drive works very much like a tape ____________ that can both play and record.

4. ____________ DVD drives are served for ____________ both DVDs and CDs.

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