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1.44 MB 3.5" Floppy

The only floppy disk format still in wide use, the 1.44 MB 3.5" drive was introduced by IBM in 1987 as part of its PS/2 line. Since that time they have grown immensely popular, and this format is the standard for floppy disks today. Virtually every PC made since 1987 uses one of these drives, and there are many non-PC computers that will read them as well. They have become very cheap due to the aging of the technology and the fact that they are produced in such high volume. Their universality is what has allowed the floppy to continue to be a default part of every PC despite their rather tiny storage capacity compared to today's hard disks. Since the 1.44 MB uses a higher bit density than the 720 KB, it requires a floppy disk controller capable of 500 Kbits/s data transfer. Virtually all newer controllers support this rate.

The 1.44 MB floppy disk will read and write 720 KB disks, but you should always use the correct density of media when writing to these disks.

Note: Look here for specifications on all of the floppy disk formats.

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