SuperDisk
The SuperDisk the company Imation was a magnetic disk. The storage capacity ( LS120 ) of 120 MB was higher than that of a ZIP100 floppy disk (100 MB). In 2001 SuperDisk drives and media with 240 MB capacity ( LS240 ) were launched as internal and external variants. The SuperDisk was intended as a downwardly compatible successor to the floppy disk , like the previously released Zip disk from competitor Iomega .
Despite the technical advantages (HD disks were readable and writable) compared to the Zip system, the SuperDisk could not establish itself because the Zip disks had appeared on the market earlier and had already become somewhat widespread when the SuperDisk was introduced. In addition, the LS media were initially error-prone and expensive.
As CD burners became affordable, they quickly supplanted both SuperDisk and Zip disk.
technology
The abbreviation “LS” stands for “Laser Servo” and describes the way the drive works: the writing and reading of the media is done magnetically , the read / write head on the 120/240 MB media is positioned optically with the aid of a laser . The drives could also read and write conventional floppy disks with a capacity of 720 KB and 1.44 MB. However, ED floppies of 2.88 MB were not supported.
The 240 MB drive was also able to store up to 32 MB on normal 1.44 MB HD floppy disks using special packet writing software (which was only offered for Windows). Reading and writing then took place using an application provided. A transparent integration into the system as a block device and thus a random access to the files on the medium by other applications was not given. The reformatting of the HD floppy disks for this special format was carried out in such a way that a small area at the beginning of the medium was retained in conventional formatting, so that such disks, inserted in a conventional drive, presented themselves to the system as a medium with already exhausted storage capacity and a Reference to the special formatting contained in the form of a text file.
Most SuperDisk drives were delivered with ATAPI interfaces. This meant that the drives could be used in almost all PCs .
See also
- Diskette - predecessor of SuperDisk
- Iomega Zip - Alternative product from Iomega
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Orbit trade fair report on the SuperDisk. Retrieved July 12, 2012 .