Floppy Disk facts

While investigating facts about Floppy Disk Drive and Floppy Disk Reader, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The US Military still uses 8 inch floppy disks on outdated IBM computers to run the nuclear missile systems. It's because they are incredibly hard to hack. The computers are essentially air-gapped and the old IBM computers are reliable. They could run for another 40 years with spare parts.

how floppy disk works?

The BTK Killer sent a letter to the police asking if his writings could be traced to him if they were put on a floppy disk. The police answered that they wouldn't be able to trace it. He later sent a floppy disk to Fox Tv, who gave it to the police and had it traced to him.

What's floppy disk drive?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what floppy diskettes. Here are 50 of the best facts about Floppy Disk Capacity and Floppy Disk Size I managed to collect.

what floppy disk used for?

In 2014 Toshiba has repurposed its floppy disk factory, that hasn't been used for nearly two decades into a vegetable farm
The last Blockbuster on earth, in Bend, OR uses floppy disks to boot their system, employees have to hand print cards because their printers broke, and transactions are backed up on a reel-to-reel tape that can't be replaced because Radio Shack went out of business.
The US Federal Register is still using floppy disks sent by courier because a secure e-mail system is "too expensive"
In the late 1990s, certain digital cameras used 3.5-inch floppy disks for picture storage
The U.S. is still using floppy disks to run its nuclear program
Prince was Prince's real name(Prince Rogers Nelson), but after a contractual dispute with W.Bros. he changed his stage name to an unpronouncable symbol earning himself the name "The Artist Formally Know as Prince" and "forcing a mass mailing of floppy disks with custom font."
Norway’s doctors still use floppy disks, apparently they’re more secure than modern alternatives.
The inventor of the floppy disk, Yoshiro Nakamatsu, would nearly drown himself to death in order to come up with ideas, believing the lack of oxygen would help him think creatively.
The US ICBM arsenal relies on 8-inch floppy disks
An anonymous serial killer was arrested after he sent a floppy disk with his name and church stored on it. He asked police if they could trace a floppy disk and they said no.

floppy disk facts — What floppy disk made of?

Why floppy disks are obsolete?

You can easily fact check why floppy disk called floppy by examining the linked well-known sources.

Sony made a digital camera in 1997 that stored images on a 3.5 inch floppy disk

America's nuclear arsenal stills runs off of 8 inch floppy disks - source

The creator of the floppy disk, Yoshiro Nakamatsu, would routinely almost drown himself in order to spur creativity. - source

Serial Killer Dennis Rader, who had evaded capture for 30 years, was finally caught after asking the police in a letter if a floppy disk could be traced back to the computer he used should he send it to them. The Police erroneously replied that it couldn't.

The U.S. Nuclear System relies on 8 inch Floppy Disks - source

When floppy disk invented?

Sony made a digital camera that took 3.5" floppy disks for storage

How floppy disk are made?

The first ransomware was the 1989 AIDS Trojan horse, developed by biologist Dr. Joseph Popp. He gave his patients infected floppy disks entitled "AIDS Information - Introductory Diskettes". After remaining dormant for about 90 reboots, the Trojan would encrypt the PC until payment was made.

The Yoshiro Nakamatsu, inventor of the floppy disk, would routinely almost drown himself to push his brain and body to the limit in order to feed his inventiveness.

Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, in one of his letters to the police asked if his writings, if put on a floppy disk, could be traced or not. The police lied, saying no it could not be. Rader then sent the police his next writings on floppy disk, where they traced it back to him and arrested him.

Within the next 20 years most original VHS tapes, Cassette tapes, and floppy disks will stop working due to magnetic decay.

Andy Warhol created digital art on a Commodore Amiga in the mid 80s and then saved it on floppy disks. The art was only discovered 20 years later thanks to the chance viewing of a YouTube clip.

When did floppy disks stop being used?

The US military still uses 8-inch floppy disks to run its nuclear program. They are used to coordinate intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and tanker support aircraft.

The first ransomware named AIDS was created in 1989 and distributed on floppy disk. Victims had to send $189 to a PO box in Panama in order to decrypt their filenames. The creator and biologist Dr. Popp was declared mentally ill and, after his discharge, opened a butterfly conservatory in NY.

Author William Gibson wrote book which contained a floppy disk, which when run on a 90s era mac, would scroll his poem 'Agrippa' up the screen just once, then self-encrypt.

The computer which coordinates aspects of the US nuclear program, including intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombers, is a 1970s IBM Series/1 Computer which still uses 8 inch floppy disks

How floppy disks?

Major government agency systems such as the IRS Taxpayer Database, Veteran Affairs Payroll, and the Department of Defense’s back up Nuclear control Messaging system, all use outdated operating systems such as Windows 3.1 and in some cases still use floppy disks.

The Department of Defense still uses 8 inch floppy disks in some of their legacy systems to coordinate nuclear force operations

Exxon tried and failed to enter the world of office supplies in the 80's, one of their products being a "smart typewriter" that included a floppy disk drive for memory.

At one point the original release of The Legend of Zelda was to be done on floppy disks but the cartridge was used instead when Nintendo opted for the cartridge for its systems.

The word skeuomorphism. Its used to describe when things, especially software "retain design cues from structures inherent to the original". E.g Floppy Disks as save icons in games. The recycle bin for discarding files. The Bookshelf, Casino, Paper look of iOS6 iBooks, GameCenter, Notes apps

The main hard disk is called the "C" drive because "A" and "B" are reserved for floppy and tape drives.

The original packaging of the 12" single for New Order's Blue Monday was made to resemble a 5 1/4" floppy disk. The die cutting and color printing of the sleeve was so expensive that each record was sold at a loss. It also went on to become the best-selling 12" single of all time.

The original Apple Lisa had two floppy drives for 5.25 inch disks. These disk drives were often referred to as Twiggy.

A Dutch technician in the 90's claimed to have developed a revolutionary data compression technique which could compress a movie down to just 8kb, he died the day before signing a deal with Philips and his compiler system which was hidden away on a floppy disk was lost.

About the Kansas City standard, a way of storing digital data on standard audio cassettes, which at the time were cheaper than floppy disk drives, that cost more than $1,000 in 1975 VS. $1.50 for an audio cassette.

As late as 2013, some government agencies, like the Federal Register, continued to use floppy disks.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Floppy Disk. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Floppy Disk so important!