The floppy disk, invented and made by IBM in 1967, was once the preferred format for storing files and transferring them between computers. TWO-THIRDS OF UNDER 18S DON'T KNOW WHAT A FLOPPY DISK IS ...

In 1977, the Apple II personal computer, featuring a central processing unit, a keyboard, color graphics, and a floppy disk drive, was a hit in households looking to have a computer to balance ...

As computers got smaller, so did the disks. The 5.25-inch version came along in 1976—its size allegedly inspired by a cocktail napkin its developers came across while talking shop in a Boston bar.

Floppy disks or diskettes emerged around 1970 and, for a good three decades or so, they were the main way many people stored and backed up their computer data.

The mylar-coated magnetic disks invented by IBM in 1967 have largely been consigned to museums in the developed world. They fit a mere megabyte of data — enough for a few seconds of video.

The floppy disk, invented in the 1970s, was once a ubiquitous part of computing. Other forms of memory like flash drives and internet cloud storage have since taken over.