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360 KB 5.25" Floppy

The oldest floppy disk format is the 360 KB 5.25" floppy disk. This is the type of disk that was used in the very first IBM PCs, which in fact didn't use a hard disk at all. The 360 KB floppy is the only format that uses 40 tracks per side to record data; the others all use 80 tracks. This accounts for its low capacity. Older versions of these drives were full-height models; the half-height models were introduced later.

The 360 KB drive is thoroughly and completely obsolete, having been replaced by the 1.2 MB 5.25" floppy disk. If you still have one of these in your system you really need to think about upgrading your hardware. :^)

Note: Look here for specifications on all of the floppy disk formats.

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