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Removable Disks

Removable disks allow you to store data on media which you can take with you. Removable disks are inserted into a drive attached to your computer. These disks can be removed and then transferred to another computer.

Most of the drives for these disks can be ordered built into the computer's case. You can also buy external drives that connect to your computer through a USB or SCSI port.

Some of the most popular formats of removable disks include:

3.5-inch floppy disk (first created by Sony)—holds up to 1.44MB of data. Also referred to as a diskette. Usually built into the system case.
Zip disk (by Iomega)—100 MB and 250 MB storage.
SuperDisks (by Imation)—look like 3.5-inch diskettes, but can hold up to 120 MB of data. These drives can also read the 1.44 MB floppy disks.
Jaz disk (by Iomega)—1 GB and 2 GB formats.
Microdrives—made by a variety of manufacturers in a variety of capacities. Microdrives are built into PCMCIA cards, usually used with laptop computers.

When you put a disk in a drive, you will notice an indicator light turns on. When this light is on, the drive is reading data from the disk. Always wait until the indicator light is off before removing the disk from the drive.
You should never use removable disks as your main means for storing data. Always save your files to your computer's hard drive, and then transfer them to a removable disk for easy access or backup.

Large capacity removable disks, like the Jaz disk, use the same technology as a hard disk, except the read-write heads are built-in to a drive designed specifically for that type of disk. (For more information about how these disks work, see the task Storage Concepts.)