Floppy disk is the earliest removable medium used in personal computer (PC). The reading and writing of floppy disk is done by floppy drive. The floppy disk drive is designed to receive removable floppy disks. At present, a 3.5-inch floppy disk with a capacity of 1.44MB is commonly used. The floppy disk has slow access speed and small capacity, but it can be loaded and unloaded and is easy to carry. As a removable storage method, it is an ideal choice for small files that need to be physically moved.
Previous life of floppy disk
appear
1967 IBM introduced the world's first "floppy disk" with a diameter of 32 inches;
In 197 1, Alan Shugart introduced a plastic with a diameter of 8 inches and a surface coated with metal oxides.
Material disk, the originator of standard floppy disk, has a capacity of only 8 1KB.
1976 Alan Shugart spent $390 to develop a 5.25-inch floppy disk, which was later used in IBM's early personal computers. Alan Shugart left IBM and founded Seagate. He is also regarded as the father of the disk.
1979, Sony introduced a 3.5-inch double-sided floppy disk with a capacity of 875KB, which reached 1983 and has reached1MB; ;
In 1990s, 3.5-inch/1.44MB floppy disk has been the standard data transmission of PC.
One of the modes of transmission
Old floppy disk picture
First, the originator of floppy disk-8-inch floppy disk In the late 1960s and early 1970s, IBM launched the world's first PC, which was a landmark revolutionary leap in the computer industry. But IBM's System370 computer faces such a problem, that is, the operating instructions of this computer are stored in semiconductor memory, and once the computer is turned off, the instructions will be erased. So in 1967, the storage team of IBM San Jose Lab was ordered to develop a cheap device to store and transmit microcode for mainframe processors and control units. The cost of this kind of equipment must be less than 5 dollars, so it is easy to replace and carry, so the road to developing floppy disks began.
2.5.25 inch floppy disk and napkin
Although the 8-inch floppy disk is close to the modern floppy disk in technical principle, its defect is that it is too big to carry, so the 5.25-inch floppy disk was born. There is also a short story about the invention of the 5.25-inch floppy disk. At that time, Wang An Computer Company of the United States planned to release a word processing computer, and thought that the 8-inch floppy disk was too big, so it began to cooperate with ShugartAssociates to produce smaller disks. One night, in a dark bar in Boston, they finally agreed to use a floppy disk of a certain size, which is the size of a cocktail napkin on the dining table, and the size is exactly 5.25 inches. Since then, this floppy disk has become the best choice for computers.
The capacity of the mobile storage device is 360K. The 5.25-inch floppy disk lasted until the 1990s, and was finally replaced by another product with smaller volume and larger capacity, namely the 3.5-inch floppy disk.
Third, the popular 3.5-inch floppy disk Although the 5.25-inch floppy disk has made some progress in volume and capacity, it still has many shortcomings. For example, the outer packaging of floppy disks is fragile, easily damaged and relatively large. So many manufacturers are not satisfied with this kind of floppy disk, and they are constantly exploring and looking for more advanced floppy disks. The development of a new generation of floppy disks was finally won by Sony Corporation of Japan. 1980, Sony took the lead in introducing the 3.5-inch floppy drive and floppy disk with smaller volume and larger capacity, but it was not accepted by some major PC manufacturers at that time, and the 5.25-inch floppy disk was still popular in the market.
Until1April, 1987, IBM introduced the IBM Personal System/2(PS/2) personal computer series based on 386, and it was officially equipped with a 3.5-inch floppy drive, which attracted many people's attention. Everyone is attracted by this new floppy disk, which is smaller, but its capacity is several times that of 5.25-inch floppy disk. Since then, this 3.5-inch floppy disk has become popular with the strong admiration of manufacturers represented by IBM and Compaq. 3.5-inch floppy disk occupied the market rapidly and comprehensively by virtue of its cheap price and relatively huge storage capacity (1.44M, megabyte storage), but this absolute monopoly position of 3.5-inch floppy disk lasted for more than ten years until 2002.
Floppy disk life
The rise of flash disk and mobile hard disk makes people believe that floppy disk and floppy disk have come to the end of their lives. The arguments that "floppy disk will be eliminated by the market" and "flash disk will end floppy disk in two years" were once rampant, but the sudden emergence of existing large-capacity floppy disks and floppy disks has suddenly changed the market: who will eliminate who?
According to Moore's law, the CPU speed of a computer will double every 18 months. However, the capacity of traditional floppy disk has been stagnant at 1.44m for many years, which has long been unable to meet the needs of users. More and more users are turning their attention to high-capacity and high-speed mobile storage devices.
At this time, the USB flash drive came into being. This storage tool based on USB interface and using flash memory chip has the advantages of small size, convenient carrying and no need of driving, and has been sought after by people since it came out. The storage capacity of USB flash drive has also climbed from the initial 8M to 2G, and the earliest 64M capacity has become the mainstream product in the USB flash drive market.
Not long ago, Intel shouted the slogan of "ending the floppy drive era", and then Lenovo immediately released two laptops with flash drives as the standard configuration. Founder computer also began to suggest that users choose flash drives instead of traditional floppy drives. From the second half of 200 1, domestic manufacturers, large and small, began to produce flash drives, with an average of three or four new entrants every month. According to the statistics of CCID Consulting, there are nearly 40 brands on the market at present.
In addition to flash drives, there are storage technologies such as mobile hard disk, CD burning, MO and Zip. They are all eyeing the traditional floppy disk and plotting to "usurp the throne". Among them, mobile hard disk is very popular, which is the same as flash disk. Not long ago, Samsung Electronics has clearly announced in South Korea that "Samsung products, including desktop PCs and notebook computers, will no longer be equipped with floppy disks randomly, but will be replaced by USB mobile hard disks with startup function."
Under the attack of flash disk and mobile hard disk, the traditional floppy disk has been in jeopardy, and the popularity of the Internet has given floppy disks a fatal blow. At present, files smaller than 1.38M (the capacity of a floppy disk) can be transmitted and stored on the Internet by mail. It is generally believed that the mission of floppy disk is coming to an end, and flash disk will soon become the overlord of the new generation of mobile storage.
But advantages and disadvantages often go hand in hand. Although large-capacity floppy disks and floppy drives have the advantages of distribution and backup, they must be equipped with large-capacity floppy drives to be used, but they are useless on ordinary floppy drives, which is obviously not easy to use.
Although flash drives have developed rapidly, Hongsheng believes that the mainstream mobile storage mode in the future will be large-capacity floppy disks. "The biggest advantage of large-capacity floppy disks and floppy drives is their distribution and backup functions." Liu Wei analyzed. In the interview, Liu Rong mentioned the price advantage of his products many times. According to Liu Rong, Hongsheng owns five patented technologies, and has the "most economical and reliable" method to reduce the product cost, which is at least 30% lower than that of its main competitor, Aimeijia. It is reported that the price of Hongsheng's new floppy drive does not exceed that of 200 yuan, which is less than twice as expensive as the traditional floppy drive; 144M The price of new floppy disk is less than 10 yuan. Because of the low price of large-capacity floppy disks, when files need to be exchanged, people can copy files to floppy disks and send them to each other together with floppy disks.
However, the price of USB flash drive is more expensive, and the price of USB flash drive before the project is about 16M. Therefore, if you use a USB flash drive to copy files to the other party, it will inevitably involve a "return" problem, which will bring inconvenience to users and can be said to be the fatal wound of the USB flash drive. Because flash disk uses semiconductor material as storage medium, its cost is definitely higher than that of large-capacity floppy disk, so the price of flash disk with the same capacity is always higher than that of new floppy disk.
But the advantages and disadvantages are often complementary. The weakness of large-capacity floppy disk is that it can only be used with large-capacity floppy drive, but it is useless in ordinary floppy drive. U disk does not need to be driven, and it can be directly used by connecting a computer through a USB interface, which is obviously superior in ease of use. In fact, people once placed great hopes on high-capacity storage devices such as ZIP and Clik, but it is precisely because the drives and storage media of these mobile storage devices are separated that they are not very convenient to use, and the overall price is high, which makes it difficult for such products to become a climate. In China, they can only be seen in some professional fields such as advertising companies, photo companies and advanced commercial applications. "Now Hongsheng can solve the price bottleneck, but it can't change the fact that floppy disks and floppy drives are separated." The manager of a USB flash drive manufacturer commented.
It can be seen that large-capacity floppy disks and flash disks have their own advantages. How to choose depends on the preferences and needs of consumers. It should be said that no one can eat anyone. "In the future, the two are complementary." When asked about the competitive relationship with flash drives, Liu Rong said after thinking for a while. But who will become the mainstream of the future storage market?
In order to realize the dream of becoming the first in the mobile storage market, Hongsheng must overcome three obstacles: market awareness, competitors and popularization of floppy drives.
The low awareness of domestic users on large-capacity floppy disks is the first obstacle to promotion. In foreign countries, the concept of mass storage has become quite popular, and many computers are no longer equipped with 1.44MB floppy disk when they leave the factory. However, for the vast majority of domestic users, large-capacity floppy disks are new. When the reporter told a friend who is engaged in computer system maintenance about the floppy disk of 144M, he looked surprised: Is there a floppy disk of 144M?
Users always take a wait-and-see attitude towards new things. Therefore, it will take some time for Hongsheng to gain the recognition of domestic users. When the reporter asked how Hongsheng planned to cultivate the market, Liu Rong's answer was to hold seminars and give lectures in enterprises. But this promotion method may not have much effect in the short term.
Moreover, at present, Acer's main competitor, Aimeijia, is the largest mobile hard disk manufacturer in the world, ranking first in the leading position of magnetic technology products in the personal mobile storage market. Since the advent of 1995, Aimeijia Zip series products have sold 37 million units worldwide, and the market share in PC configuration has reached more than 1 1%. This giant crocodile is obviously an insurmountable mountain for Hongsheng, whose products were only listed in 2003.
At present, Aimeijia is mainly aimed at middle and high-end users, and its products are expensive in China market. The new floppy disk costs more than 800 yuan, and the floppy disk is around 40 yuan. The emergence of Hongsheng has attracted the attention of Amy's family, and it is hard to say that they will not launch low-end products at an appropriate time. However, Liu Rong stressed that the patented technology of SpinDisk, a partner of Hongsheng, can make the cost of products much lower than that of competitors. According to Liu Rong, Aimeijia had intended to invest US$ 6,543.8 billion to acquire its patented technology, but it was rejected by Hongsheng. "Compared with the floppy disk market of up to $6 billion a year, the purchase price of $654.38+0 billion is undoubtedly too little." So instead of transferring the patent, we decided to turn the technology into a product ourselves. "Liu Rong said confidently.
Moreover, the biggest advantages of large-capacity floppy disks-distribution and backup functions, can only be reflected when large-capacity floppy disks are quite popular. If you copy files to a large-capacity floppy disk and send them to others, and others don't have a large-capacity floppy drive, your floppy disk is like waste. Professor Zhu Xuefeng, Dean of School of Electronic Information, South China University of Technology, believes that it should be the direction of Hongsheng's efforts to make large-capacity floppy disks the standard configuration of computers. "If only a handful of people are using it, it doesn't make much sense."
Once Hongsheng's large-capacity floppy drive becomes the mainstream configuration, the flash disk market will inevitably be hit hard. Although USB flash drive manufacturers will not sit still, what is certain is that with Hongsheng's progress, their future life will not be as moist as before.
Professor Zhu and Liu Rong have the same idea. Although 1.44M floppy drive is still the standard configuration of computers, it is generally believed in the industry that 1.44M floppy drive will completely quit the historical stage after three years. If the large-capacity floppy drive can become its successor, the market prospect will be limitless. The development of CD-ROM is a typical example. Since 199 1 optical drive became the standard configuration of computers, the shipment of optical drives has been soaring. It is estimated that the global CD-ROM shipments will exceed 65438+300 million units in 2002.
To become a standard, Hongsheng should form an alliance with Lenovo, Founder, Tongfang and other established computer manufacturers, and even take the way of making profits in the early days, which should be the only way. For computer manufacturers, if they only increase the cost of 100 yuan, they can provide consumers with computers equipped with large-capacity floppy disk drives, which will obviously greatly enhance the competitiveness of their products, while Hongsheng can rely on the influence of several major computer manufacturers in the domestic market to make the large-capacity floppy disk market mature rapidly.
In terms of industrialization strategy, Liu Rong said that Hongsheng will focus on users in key industries such as education and scientific research in the initial stage. At present, the demand for large-capacity floppy disks is the most prominent in education and scientific research industries, and the traditional 1.44M floppy disk has long been unable to meet the needs of file backup and transmission. It is a good choice to take the education and scientific research industries as the breakthrough and then gradually expand to other industries. At the seminar in September, Hongsheng invited professors from key universities in South China, such as Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, South China Normal University and Guangdong University of Technology, which showed his good intentions.
Although Liu Rong has repeatedly said that large-capacity floppy disks and flash drives complement each other, it is clear to all discerning people that once large-capacity floppy disks become standard, flash drives will be like "chicken ribs" for consumers, and their market will definitely be hit hard. However, USB flash drive manufacturers will not sit still, and USB flash drive giants like Netac have shouted the slogan of "making USB flash drives the standard". The battle between large-capacity floppy disk and flash disk has started. Although the outcome is unpredictable, what is certain is that with Hongsheng's success, the future of flash disk manufacturers will not be as moist as before.
Floppy disk exits the stage of history.
It is reported that Sony, which owns 70% of the floppy disk market, announced that it will officially end the sales of this old storage medium in Japan on March 20 1 1. For more than 30 years, 3.5-inch floppy disks have been used as the medium for storing and exchanging files in personal computers.
198 1 year, Sony took the lead in introducing a 3.5-inch floppy disk, which eventually replaced the original 5.25-inch floppy disk format. However, with the increasing size of files and programs, floppy disks have been replaced by later storage media, including CD, DVD, Zip and U disk. Sony's floppy disk sales in Japan dropped from 47 million in 2002 to120,000 in 2009.
In fact, many manufacturers have stopped producing floppy disks. Apple iMac abandoned floppy disks at 1998, and Dell followed suit in 2003. Sony also stopped selling in most overseas markets, and the disappearance of floppy disks was expected.
Although the floppy disk was later withdrawn, its former glory still exists. For those who have made contributions to society and the world, we should keep them in mind!
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