Why are Floppy Disks Called "Floppy" If They Are Rigid?

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The typical floppy disk is a small rigid plastic case, and if it's rigid, and not floppy, then why is it called a "floppy"?

According to Gary Brown (2001), floppy disks are called "floppy" because their packaging was a very flexible plastic envelope. These floppy disks were the very, very old ones from the 80's and 90's. The "modern" floppy disk of the 2000's Windows XP era, also known as the "diskette," were 3.5 inches and had a rigid case.

This means that by the time PCs got popular, floppy disks weren't "floppy" anymore, they were just called floppy.

A photo featuring floppy disks of various sizes, a CD, a DVD, memory cards, and tapes.
A photo featuring various removable storage media: an 8" floppy disk, 5.25" floppy disk, 3.5" floppy disk, cassette tape, 8mm tape, CD, DVD, ZX Microdrive, SDHC card, CompactFlash card, and a USB disk. Observe how the larger floppies look floppier than the smaller ones. Photo: David Smith on Flickr. License: CC BY 2.0.

For reference, here's a video about 8 inch floppies where you can see a bit of the floppiness of the floppies:

Quotes

The 5.25-inch disks were dubbed "floppy" because the diskette packaging was a very flexible plastic envelope, unlike the rigid case used to hold today's 3.5-inch diskettes.

Gary Brown "How Floppy Disk Drives Work" 26 February 2001 [https://computer.howstuffworks.com/floppy-disk-drive.htm] (accessed 2025-01-11)

Hello, today we're going to talk about floppies.

[Holds a rigid floppy disk and tries to bend it by the corners.]

Uh, not that floppy. It's not even floppy, so it doesn't count.

[Holds a five and a quarter inch floppy disk, waving it for the camera.]

But, the actual real floppy thing.

All you never wanted to know about 8 inch floppy drives [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL0LXSE1jeM] (accessed 2025-01-11)
Written by Noel Santos.

About the Author

I'm a self-taught Brazilian programmer graduated in IT from a FATEC. In a world of increasingly complex and essential computers, I decided to use my technical expertise in hardware, desktop applications, and web technologies to create an informative resource to make PC's easier to understand.

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