Floppy

From Site5Wiki

A flexible plastic disk coated with magnetic material and covered by a protective jacket, used primarily by computers to store data magnetically. Also called diskette.

--Answers.com

fascinating and extended history of the floppy disk, beginning, as many American inventions have, at a World's Fair (1900).

Types that have been in use (known by their imperial measurements as their nicknames--aka, 3.5, 5-and-a-quarter, etc.):

3.5 inches—rigid
5.25 inches—flexible (aka, the nickname "floppy")
8 inches—flexible

The floppy disk drive as it is known today was invented in 1969 by David Noble.

The floppy disk as a portable:

For more than two decades, the floppy disk was the primary external writable storage device used. Also, in a non-network environment, floppies have been the primary means of transferring data between computers (sometimes jokingly referred to as Sneakernet or Frisbeenet).

--Answers.com

-- the internal floppy disk drive for my Macintosh (Performa 6200); it's the darker area on the right, the CD-ROM drive is on the left --Carla 11:46, 7 February 2007 (EST)