The big storage breakthrough came in 1977 when Apple introduced the Apple II, its first mass-produced computer. Later, people loaded software programs into their PCs using cassette tape recorders.
The first microcomputers used toggle switches and paper punched tape, a variant on the paper punched card, to install and store data. It’s an example of IBM’s willingness over the years to obsolete its own technology when it discovers something that does the job better.įast-forward to the late 1970s. In this way, the company sent into retirement the punched card, which had been a key to its success since its founding in 1911. In the early days, a single disk had the capacity of 3,000 punched cards, and IBM adapted its punched card data entry machines so their operators could easily shift from loading data on paper cards to putting it on the disks. patents for the drive and floppy disk in 1972. IBM began selling floppy disk drives in 1971, and received U.S. The first floppies were 8-inch disks that were bare, but they got dirty easily, so the team packaged them in slim but durable envelopes equipped with an innovative dust-wiping element, making it possible to handle and store them easily. Dalziel, the lead inventor of the floppy disk drive. “I had no idea how important it would become and how widespread,” recalls Warren L. The team considered using magnetic tape first, but then, in a project code-named “Minnow,” they switched to using a flexible Mylar disk coated with magnetic material that could be inserted through a slot into a disk drive mechanism and spun on a spindle. The big machines were already equipped with hard disk drives, also invented by IBM engineers, but people used paper punched cards for data entry and software programming. Noble started working on developing a reliable and inexpensive system for loading instructions and installing software updates into mainframe computers. In 1967, a small team of engineers under the leadership of David L. The floppy got its start at IBM’s data storage skunkworks in San Jose, California.
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