Floptical floppy disk is a new word, which is composed of English floppy disk and CD. Magneto-optical floppy disk was developed by American Insite Peripheral Company in198, and was officially launched at the end of 199 1. This 8.89cm(3.5 inches) 2 1MB magneto-optical floppy disk has the characteristics of backward compatibility (720KB and 1.44MB), interchangeability and portability, and is recommended by the American Committee for Micro-standards as a substitute for the new standard of large-capacity floppy disks in the future.
First, the technical characteristics of magneto-optical floppy disk
1. New technology
Magneto-optical floppy disk combines optical servo positioning with magnetic recording and storage, and the mature technology of software system is combined with the successful optical servo positioning technology in optical disk system, forming a floppy disk replacement product with 12 technical patents.
2. Large capacity
The appearance of magneto-optical floppy disk has created a new record for floppy disk storage: 2 1MB is 28 times of 720KB, 18 times of 1.2MB and 14 times of1.44mb..
3. Good compatibility
The external dimensions of 2 1MB magneto-optical floppy disk are completely consistent with the standard 3.5-inch disk, and the data of 720KB and 1.44MB floppy disks can also be read and written as usual. This means that more than 6 billion ordinary 3.5-inch floppy disks in the world will not be invalidated.
4. High reliability
Optical disc technology adopts all mature technologies and standard components of traditional floppy disk drive. On the basis of conventional floppy disk, barium iron medium is used to improve the bit density and enhance the functions of corrosion resistance and wear resistance. Using laser engraving servo track positioning, the disk will not be scrapped because of magnetic field interference. Using the multi-bit ECC and CRC check technology of SCSI (Small Computer System Interface Standard) main adapter and controller, the error rate of magneto-optical floppy disk media whose surface is easy to contact dust is only11012; The optical servo track closed-loop feedback control system is used for addressing, that is, when the head is accurately positioned on the servo track, reading and writing will begin. It avoids the shortcomings of traditional soft drive stepping motor open-loop control, and the data generated by spindle errors of each drive motor can not be exchanged with each other, which greatly improves the reliability of magneto-optical floppy disk.
5. Fast transmission rate
The reading and writing speed of magneto-optical floppy drive is twice as fast as that of ordinary floppy drive, and the formatting speed is ten times as fast as that of ordinary floppy drive.
6. High quality
At present, the production partner of magneto-optical floppy disk drive is MKE company in Japan. Is a world-renowned manufacturer of warm disk drives and tape drives, using the most advanced automatic production equipment such as robots to ensure the consistency and reliability of products. The cooperators of media production, 3M Company and Maxell Company, applied their superb magnetic recording media production technology for many years to the production of magneto-optical floppy disks. In the field of magnetic media industry, 3M and Maxell are synonymous with product quality.
7. Easy to install and use
Magneto-optical floppy drive is connected with PC/XT and AT bus through SCSI main adapter, and its driver is solidified in BISROM of SCSI main adapter. The installation size of magneto-optical floppy drive is exactly the same as the standard 3.5-inch floppy drive, and it can be used as long as it is connected well. SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) main adapter is a high-tech to move a small computer system to a PC. It not only has high transmission rate and strong error correction ability, but also can connect seven SCSI turntables, optical disks, tape drives, scanners and magneto-optical floppy drives in parallel.
8. Comparison with similar products
CD-ROM has a large capacity and a long storage time, and can be used as a supplement to a large-capacity hard disk. However, CD-ROM is expensive and incompatible, so it cannot be used as an exchange medium. The compatibility and universality of replaceable temperature plates are poor, and the technical problems of reliability have not been solved, and technical standards have not been formed; The tape drive is slow and the random storage compatibility is poor; The floppy disk is replaceable, easy to carry, easy to store at random, cheap, but small in capacity and slow in speed. As an alternative product of floppy disk, 2 1MB magneto-optical floppy disk will become the most promising exchange and backup medium for microcomputers and workstations.