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But you couldn't write to CD-ROM, so they weren't a full replacement. What killed the 2.88 MB disk IMO was Iomega's Zip disk. By the time I was in high school

by cout 5y ago

But you couldn't write to CD-ROM, so they weren't a full replacement. What killed the 2.88 MB disk IMO was Iomega's Zip disk. By the time I was in high school, they were commonplace and moving to replace the floppy disk for carrying files around in your pocket. For larger files we did get CD-R and later CD-RW, but they were never convenient for e.g. saving your spreadsheets and word processing files. Eventually USB came along, and soon after that thumb drives, and that was the final nail in the coffin for both Zip disks and floppies.

bzzzt 5y ago
CD-ROM was a fine replacement for software distribution though. There was a 3,5" floppy compatible "SuperDisk" standard which could store up to 120Mb per disk. But the Zip disk already had a big market share then. I remember using QIC-80 tapes for "software sharing" - since those drives were reasonably cheap and could be wired to an existing floppy disk controller.
- gattilorenz 5y ago
  > QIC-80 120 Mb at floppy drive speeds? That must have been painfully slow...