Why are diskettes becoming obsolete?

Answer 1

The small capacity of floppy disks, compared to the ever-expanding size of files, makes them impractical for most uses. Plus, there are many much better alternatives available (USB drives, CD-R, etc.). Diskette drives are becoming rare on Windows computers, as well. Macintosh computers were just ahead of their time, as usual!

Answer 2

1) The technical limitations of the floppy diskette drive (FDD) allows for the storage of only 1.44 MB of data. For comparison, a typical 4 minute MP3 song will use approximately 4 MB of disk space. One image from a digital camera can use as much as 5 MB of disk space. A 50 page PowerPoint presentation with lots of graphics can use as much as 5 to 10 MB of disk space. Clearly, the floppy diskette lacks sufficient disk space for the majority of a typical user's data storage activities.

2) Due to #1, more effective methods for portable data storage have been developed and become widely available in recent years. USB flash memory devices, portable hard drives and optical media discs (CD-Recordable and DVD-Recordable) are a few examples. I recently purchased an 8 GB USB flash drive for $20. External FDD devices currently cost around $40. The 8GB flash drive will hold over 5500 times more data, is far more portable due to its small size, and costs half the price. When compared to an FDD storage system, it is easy to see the obvious advantage newer storage technologies have over FDD.

3) Due to #1 and #2, manufactures are reluctant to produce floppy diskette drives (limited availability causes the price per unit to go up), resulting in it being cost prohibitive for computer manufacturer's to include them in new systems. Therefore computer manufacturers are increasingly discontinuing the availability of the venerable FDD. This is a cycle that will inevitably result in the FDD eventually becoming completely obsolete. Perhaps it is already.

Answer 3

Floppy disks have been made obsolete since optical disks came out. The storage space was so small in Floppy disks in comparison to CDs, DVDs or USB-based storage.

(The most popular, 3.5" stored only 1.44MB, but a standard DVD stores over 3000 times as much, 4.7GB)