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KembaraXtra–Computer Terms – 3.5-inch floppy disk
A 3.5-inch floppy disk, often called a microfloppy, is a removable magnetic storage medium widely used with both Macintosh systems and IBM-compatible microcomputers. Physically, it consists of a flexible round disk of polyester film coated with ferric oxide, sealed inside a rigid plastic shell equipped with a sliding metal cover that protects the disk surface when not in use. On the Macintosh platform, a single-sided 3.5-inch disk can store about 400 kilobytes of data; a standard double-sided disk can hold approximately 800 kilobytes; and a double-sided high-density disk can hold about 1.44 megabytes. On IBM-compatible systems, common formats for 3.5-inch disks include 720 kilobytes for double-density disks and 1.44 megabytes for high-density disks. During their peak years, these disks were used for everything from system boot disks and software distribution to personal file storage and data transfer between machines.
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