magnetic media

Floppy disk type

Magnetic media are storage formats that record data by magnetizing particles on a surface—hard drives, floppy disks, cassette tapes, VHS tapes, credit card stripes.

The technology dominated data storage through the late 20th century.

Though largely superseded by solid-state and optical formats, magnetic media persist in backup systems and legacy applications.

We're still converting old magnetic media to digital files.

tape driveMagnetic strip reader/writer
data backupStored duplicate of files
floppy diskFlexible magnetic storage medium
data storageRetaining digital information
audio recordingStored sonic information

reel-to-reel tape · tape deck · compact cassette · video recording · platter · ferromagnetic · iron oxide · cassette tape · mix tape · analog recording · degausser · tape head · broadcasting · surveillance systems · gaming consoles · VHS · industrial automation · hard drive

Opposites

storage technology type

magnetic mediaflash memory

Erasable non-volatile semiconductor storage

SSD · optical media · optical disc · CD · ROM

physical permanence/volatility

magnetic mediavolatile memory

Storage requiring constant power

RAM · DRAM · SRAM · cache memory · registers

technological era

magnetic mediacloud storage

Online data preservation service

NVMe · cloud computing · streaming

Family

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Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Rated G