diskette
Home > Storage Technology Definitions - Diskette
SearchStorage.com Definitions (Powered by WhatIs.com)
EMAIL THIS
LOOK UP TECH TERMS Powered by: WhatIs.com
Search listings for thousands of IT terms:
Browse tech terms alphabetically:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

diskette



Digg This!    StumbleUpon Toolbar StumbleUpon    Bookmark with Delicious Del.icio.us   

DEFINITION - A diskette is a random access, removable data storage medium that can be used with personal computers. The term usually refers to the magnetic medium housed in a rigid plastic cartridge measuring 3.5 inches square and about 2millimeters thick. Also called a "3.5-inch diskette," it can store up to 1.44 megabytes (MB) of data. Although many personal computers today come with a 3.5-inch diskette drive pre-installed, some notebook computers and centrally-administered desktop computers omit them.

Some older computers provide drives for magnetic diskettes that are 5.25 inches square, about 1 millimeter thick, and capable of holding 1.2 megabytes of data. These were sometimes called "floppy disks" or "floppies" because their housings are flexible. In recent years, 5.25-inch diskettes have been largely replaced by 3.5-inch diskettes, which are physically more rugged. Many people also call the newer hard-cased diskette a "floppy."

Magnetic diskettes are convenient for storingindividual files and small programs. However, the magneto-optical (MO) disk is more popular for mass storage, backup, and archiving. An MO diskette is only a little larger, physically,than a conventional 3.5-inch magnetic diskette. But because of the sophisticated read/write technology, the MO diskette canstore many times more data.

LAST UPDATED: 07 Jul 2005


Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know.
Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com


BROWSE BY TAG
Primary Storage or Storage Hardware,   Disk drives,   VIEW ALL TAGS

Digg This!    StumbleUpon Toolbar StumbleUpon    Bookmark with Delicious Del.icio.us   


RELATED CONTENT
Storage Decisions Chicago 2009 Session Downloads
Download all the sessions from the Storage Decisions Chicago 2009 conference on topics including backup, SANs, storage virtualization, storage...
Gamer's DRAM solid-state disk technology leaves Fibre Channel in the dust
An online game producer with experience using both DRAM and NAND flash SSDs provides insight into his storage tiering strategy.
SSD trends in enterprise storage
Find out why solid-state drives (SSDs) are rapidly becoming a major factor in enterprise data storage arrays, and what you need to know about the...

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS
Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary
backup robot  (SearchStorage.com)
A backup robot is an automated external USB storage device that supports multiple removable SATA hard drives. The device offers small businesses and...
DASD  (SearchStorage.com)
Direct access storage device (DASD, pronounced DAZ-dee), is a general term for magnetic disk storage devices. The term has historically been used in...




Search diskette at SearchStorage and SearchStorageChannel
TechTarget Storage Media
Storage Magazine View this month\\'s issue and subscribe today.
Storage Decisions Apply online for free conference admission.
SearchStorage.com
HomeNewsMagazineTopicsLearningMultimediaWhite PapersBlogsEventsAbout Us

About Us  |  Contact Us  |  For Advertisers  |  For Business Partners  |  Site Index  |  RSS
TechTarget provides enterprise IT professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective IT purchase decisions and managing their organizations' IT projects - with its network of technology-specific Web sites, events and magazines.

TechTarget Corporate Web Site  |  Media Kits  |  Site Map




All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2000 - 2009, TechTarget | Read our Privacy Policy
  TechTarget - The IT Media ROI Experts