Floppy drives have been around for a long time; in the past they were used for playing elementary, computer games, storaging important information, and were used as a PC's main memory. The capacity and data transfer rates of floppy drives have extremely low levels, which are 1.44 MB and about 0.06 MB/sec (PC Mechanic). These parameters could be improved considerably with floppy drives out there, however it is too late to change standards now since the technology is worldwide.
Today the only two functions left for the floppy disks are serving as boot disks in the case of system problems on your computer, and serving as movable storage. The main advantage of floppy disks is still low cost and universal compatibility. In other words, they are low costing and are able to work on all computers.
In its design, the floppy disk is similar to the hard drive; it operates on the principles of magnetic recording. It uses magnetic heads for data storage and retrieval from the rotating magnetic media. The main differences are in the quality of the media, with much lower magnetic performance for the floppy; and the low rotational speed of the disk, which is about 300 rotations per minute. Another difference is continuous contact between two spring-loaded sliders. Eventually the contact between the two will wear out and the media will get damaged or destroyed. Today's hard drives already show some level of slider-disk interference at much higher velocities that are beyond 7500 rpm.
The history of floppy drives started when the first 8-inch floppy drive was introduced in 1970. It was then replaced by the 5.25-inch drive in 1976. In 1980, the 5.25-inch drive was also replaced by the 3.5-inch "micro-floppy" (Geek.com). As time went by, the floppy drive got smaller while the memory of it grew larger. The 3.5-inch floppy drive was single-headed and had a storage capacity of 322 KB (Geek.com). The disk was protected by a hard plastic jacket which increased its durability and made it easier to handle.