Floppy disk variants

The floppy disk is a data storage and transfer medium that was ubiquitous from the mid-1970s well into the 2000s. In addition to the four common generations of floppy disks (and drives), many other floppy disk formats were developed, either using a different disk design or special layout and encoding methods for the data held on the disk. Some with limited adoption were failed attempts to establish a standard for a next generation.

Non-standard media and devices

Burroughs 8-inch Drive and Media

From 1976 until 1984 Burroughs offered a line of two sided 8-inch floppy disks and drives on its systems, initially at 1.0 MB and then at 3.0 MB. They were not compatible with the then industry standard 8-inch disk or drive. The 3.0 MB version used a servomechanism to achieve its higher-capacity.

IBM DemiDiskette

In the early 1980s, IBM Rochester developed a 4-inch floppy disk drive, the Model 341 and an associated diskette, the DemiDiskette. At about half the size of the original 8-inch floppy disk the name derived from the prefix demi for "half". This program was driven by aggressive cost goals, but missed the pulse of the industry. The prospective users, both inside and outside IBM, preferred standardization to what by release time were small cost reductions, and were unwilling to retool packaging, interface chips and applications for a proprietary design. The product was announced and withdrawn in 1983 with only a few units shipped.