What’s Inside a Floppy Disk?

To see what is inside a Floppy Disk you simply have to take it apart. To do this you should have a Floppy Disk (parent approved to take apart) and a butter knife. Make sure that you check that the disk does not contain important information before you take it apart.

Step One:

• Look at the outside of the disk.
• What different parts can you find?
• Do any of the parts move?
• What happens if you move some of the parts?

Step Two:

Look for the place that the disk will come apart. Insert a butter knife or something similar and gently pry it apart. An easy area to take apart is under the metal rectangle that folds over one edge of the disk. If you pull this metal piece off first you will be able to see some of the slots in the plastic. Pull apart the two halves of the outside of the disk. Be careful when you do this so that you do not lose the tiny spring that is inside. The spring holds the shutter closed and easily flies out.

Step Three:

Look at the two halves of the disk. Do they both look the same. What parts can you see at this point? Look carefully where everything is so that you would be able to put it back together when you are done.

• Look for a metal shutter
• A spring
• A brown plastic circle from a metal center
• Two white paper rings
• A small black plastic rectangle with legs
• Two plastic squares

Step Four:

Can you guess why each of the parts are inside the disk?

How do you think they work together when the disk is inside the computer?

THE HOUSING

When the floppy disk apart the two plastic squares on the outside holds the other smaller parts.

The shutter is a piece of metal folded over one edge of the disk. That edge goes into the computer first. Inside the computer, the shutter slides over, and the information on the disk can be read through the rectangular slot.

The Spring snaps the shutter closed again when the disk comes out of the machine. It closes it so that no dust or fingerprints get onto the magnetic disk.

The brown piece of plastic, which is made of the same material that video tapes or cassette tapes contain inside, is coated with iron oxide. Iron oxide can be magnetized. When you save information to a disk, a recording head creates a magnetic pattern on the iron oxide. The pattern stores your words or your pictures in a form that the computer can read when you put the disk in it.

The Hub is the metal center of the magnetic disk. The holes in the hub are like the hole in the middle of a record-they fit over the spindles inside the computer and hold the disk in place while it spins.

The magnetic disk is between two white paper rings. The two rings are glued down to the plastic housing, and stay still while the disk spins. They clean the disk, removing the microscopic pieces of dust.

The little plastic rectangle is in the upper right corner of most disks. It slides up to reveal a square hole in the housing (or slides down, to cover the hole). When the hole is open the disk is locked. Your computer won’t allow you to add anything to the disk or erase anything from it.

Under one of the paper rings is a plastic flap. This piece is really tucked away. One end of it is glued down and the plastic is bent, just a little. It functions as a simple spring that pushes the paper ring tight against the surface of the magnetic disk.