Floptical
Magnetic-optical floppy drive that stored 21 MB.
Floptical is a type of floppy disk drive that uses both magnetic and optical methods to store data on media that looks like a standard 3.5-inch floppy disk. The name blends "floppy" and "optical." While it originally referred to a specific brand of drive and disk system, the term is also used more broadly for any system that works on similar principles.
The original Floptical technology was announced in 1988 and launched in late 1991 by Insite Peripherals, a venture-funded company founded by Jim Adkisson, a key engineer from the original 3.5-inch floppy drive development at Shugart Associates in 1976. Major shareholders included Maxell, Iomega, and 3M. The standard format held 21 MB of data, compared to the 720 KB or 1.44 MB of contemporary 3.5-inch floppy disks.
Over the following years, other companies introduced similar products with increasing capacities, eventually reaching 240 MB. These systems, along with competitors like the Zip drive, were eventually replaced by writable CD-ROMs and later by thumb drives, which were cheaper, simpler, smaller, and faster.
Technically, the drive reads and writes data magnetically, but uses optical alignment to position the read/write head. Grooves on the disk are sensed by an infrared LED and sensor, a form of visual servo control. The magnetic head touches the recording surface, as in a normal floppy drive. The optical servo tracks increase tracking precision from the usual 135 tracks per inch to 1,250 tracks per inch. Floptical disks hold 21 MB. The drive includes a second set of read/write heads so it can also handle standard 720 KB and 1.44 MB disks.
To maintain compatibility with existing SCSI host adapters, Floptical drives were designed to function as standard floppy drives, not as removable hard disks. A "write lockout" feature in the firmware prevented writing or formatting the media. This lock could be bypassed using a SCSI Mode Sense Command, and Insite also released EPROMs without the feature. Two models were produced: one with a manual lever for mechanical ejection, and another with a small pinhole for a paperclip if the drive ignored SCSI eject commands.
Insite licensed the technology to companies including Matsushita, Iomega, and Maxell/Hitachi. Several of these later formed the Floptical Technology Association (FTA) to promote the format as a replacement for standard floppy disks.
- Introduced
- Late 1991
- Original capacity
- 21 MB
- Track density
- 1,245 tracks per inch
- Developer
- Insite Peripherals
- Key engineer
- Jim Adkisson
- Main shareholders
- Maxell, Iomega, 3M
- Estimated units sold
- Around 70,000
Lore & Background
The original Floptical technology was announced in 1988 and introduced late in 1991 by Insite Peripherals, a venture funded company set up by Jim Adkisson, one of the key engineers behind the original 5.25-inch floppy disk drive development at Shugart Associates in 1976. The main shareholders were Maxell, Iomega and 3M. This original format normally held 21 MB of data, compared to the contemporary 3.5" floppy capacity of 720 kB or 1.44 MB.
The technology involves reading and writing data magnetically, while optically aligning the read/write head in the drive using grooves in the disk being sensed by an infrared LED and sensor (a form of visual servo). The magnetic head touches the recording surface, as it does in a normal floppy drive. The optical servo tracks allow for an increase in the tracking precision of the magnetic head, from the usual 135 tracks per inch to 1,245 tracks per inch. Floptical disks provide 21 MB of storage. The drive has a second set of read/write heads so that it can read from and write to standard 720 KB and 1.44 MB disks as well.
To allow for a high degree of compatibility with existing SCSI host adapters, Floptical drives were designed to work as a standard floppy disk drive, and not as a removable hard disk. To ensure this, a 'write lockout' feature was added in the firmware, effectively inhibiting writing (including any kind of formatting) of the media. It is possible to unlock the drive by issuing a SCSI Mode Sense Command, and Insite also issued EPROMs where this feature was not present. At least two models were produced, one with a manual lever that mechanically ejected the disc from the drive, and another with a small pinhole into which a paperclip can be inserted, in case the device rejected or ignored SCSI eject commands.
Reader's Guide
Insite licensed the floptical technology to a number of companies, including Matsushita, Iomega, Maxell/Hitachi and others. A number of these companies later formed the Floptical Technology Association, or FTA, to try to have the format adopted as a replacement of standard floppy disks. Around 70,000 Insite Flopticals are believed to have been sold worldwide in the product's lifetime. Silicon Graphics used them in their SGI Indigo and SGI Indy series of computer workstations. It was also reported that Commodore International had selected the Insite Floptical for its Amiga 3000. However, this did not take place, and while Flopticals were installed in many Amiga systems, they were sold by either Insite, TTR Development or Digital Micronics (DMI), and not bundled by Commodore.
Over the next several years, similar products were introduced by other companies with ever increasing capacity, eventually reaching 240 MB in some systems. Iomega introduced their own ZIP-100 system storing 100 MB in 1994, which would go on to sell into the tens of millions. Another similar system was Imation's LS‑120 SuperDisk in 1996, storing 120 MB while retaining the ability to work with normal 3.5-inch disks. A smaller competitor was the almost unknown Caleb UHD144 in 1997. Since 1998, Sony also tried their own Floptical-based format, the Sony HiFD, but quality control problems ruined its reputation. There was serious consideration that one of these systems would succeed where the Floptical failed and replace the standard floppy disk outright, but the rapid introduction of writable CD-ROM systems in the early 2000s made the market disappear. All of these, along with competing systems like the Zip drive, were replaced by writable CD-ROMs in many roles, and later, by thumb drives which were cheaper, simpler, smaller, and faster.
Did You Know?
- The name 'Floptical' is a portmanteau of 'floppy' and 'optical'.
- The original Floptical drive could read and write standard 720 KB and 1.44 MB floppy disks via a second set of read/write heads.
- Insite Peripherals was founded by Jim Adkisson, a key engineer behind the original 5.25-inch floppy disk drive at Shugart Associates.
- Support for Floptical drives was present in Microsoft Windows NT up to Windows 2000, but was removed in Windows XP and newer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Floptical?
Floptical is a hybrid storage medium that records data using both magnetic and optical methods on a disk shaped like a familiar 3.5-inch floppy. The name is a straightforward portmanteau of "floppy" and "optical."
Who developed Floptical?
The technology was brought to market by Insite Peripherals, a venture-backed company whose founding engineer, Jim Adkisson, had previously worked on the original 3.5-inch floppy drive at Shugart Associates. Major shareholders backing the project included Maxell, Iomega, and 3M.
How much data can a Floptical disk hold?
The original Floptical disk stored 21 megabytes, a dramatic jump over the 1.44 MB of a standard floppy of that era. It reached that figure through a track density of 1,245 tracks per inch.
When was Floptical announced and released?
The technology was first unveiled in 1988, but the actual product did not reach consumers until late 1991. That roughly three-year gap between announcement and launch gave competitors time to push competing optical formats forward.
Why does Floptical matter in storage history?
It was a bold attempt to close the capacity gap between humble magnetic floppies and the emerging CD-era optical drives of the early 1990s. Though it never became a dominant standard, it proved that blending magnetic and optical recording on a familiar form factor was technically viable.
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