List of floppy disk formats

This is a list of different floppy disk formats.

Physical formats

Size	Density	Sides	Tracks	tpi	bpi	Sectoring	Coercivity	Unformatted capacity per side
2 inch Video Floppy			52	256				>800 kB or 50 fields of analog video
2 inch LT-1	Double		80	245
21⁄2 inch	Single		16	48				64kB
3 inch QuickDisk
3.25 inch	Single	1	80	140	4,625			250 kB
Double	9,250	500 kB
31⁄2 inch	Single	2	40	67.5	8,650	Soft	665Oe	250kB[citation needed]
Double	80	135	8,717	665Oe	500kB[citation needed]
High	80	135	17,434	720-750Oe	1MB
Extended	80	135	34,868	900Oe	2MB
Triple	240	406.5	36,700	6.5MB
4 inch DemiDiskette		1
51⁄4 inch	Single/Double	2	40	48	5,876	Soft or hard	300Oe	250kB
Quad	77	100		300Oe	500kB (Micropolis-compatible)
Quad	80	96	5,922	300Oe	500kB
High	80	96	9,646	Soft	600Oe	833kB
EH	104	125	29,560		6.5MB
51⁄4 inch Apple FileWare	Double	2	80	62.5		Soft		851 kiB
8 inch	Single		77	48	3,268-3,408	Soft or hard (inner edge)	300Oe	1MB
Double		6,816	1MB
HD		154	96	20,560		600Oe	9.6MB
8 inch Memorex FD	650	1	50		2,400	Hard (outer edge)		1.5 Mb
651	64		3,100	2.5 Mb
8 inch Burroughs	Double	2	139	150	7,100			2

Logical formats

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, many different logical disk formats were used, depending on the hardware platform.

Common floppy disk formats, logical characteristics by platform
Platform	Size	Density	Sides	Tracks/ side	Sectors/ track	Bytes/ sector	Sectoring	Capacity	rpm	Encoding	Note
Acorn	51⁄4inch	Single	1	40	10	256	Soft	100kB	300	FM
80	200kB
Double	1	40	16	256	160kB	MFM
80	320kB
2	640kB
31⁄2inch	Double	2	80	16	256	640kB	300	MFM	Format L: MOS (Electron, Master Compact)
5	1024	800kB	Format D: Arthur, RISC iXFormat E: RISC OS
High	10	1,600kB	Format F: RISC OS 3 and later. Archimedes models before the A5000 require an upgraded floppy drive.
Agat	51⁄4inch	Double	2	80	21	256		840kB	300	MFM
Amiga	51⁄4inch	Double	2	40	11	512	Soft	440kB	300	MFM
Quad	80	880kB
31⁄2inch	Double	880kB
High	19	1,520kB	GCR
22	1,760kB	150	MFM
Amstrad CPC/PCW	3inch	Double	1	40	9	512		180kB	300	MFM	Single head drive, but double-sided floppy discs (total of 360 kB per floppy)
Amstrad PCW8512/9512	3inch	Double	2	80	9	512		720kB	300	MFM	720 kB mode uses both sides - ensure disc inserted correct way up.
Apple II	51⁄4inch	Double	1	35	13	256	Soft	113.75kB	300	GCR
1	16	140kB
31⁄2inch	Double	1	80	Variable (8-12)	512	400kB	394 - 590	GCR
2	800kB
High	2	80	18	512	1,440kB	300	MFM
Apple Lisa	51⁄4inch FileWare	Double	2	46	Variable (15-22)	512	Soft	851kB	218 - 320	GCR
Apple Lisa 2/Macintosh XL, Macintosh	31⁄2inch	Double	1	80	Variable (8-12)	512	Soft	400kB	394 - 590	GCR
Macintosh	2	800kB
High	2	80	18	512	1,440kB	300	MFM
Atari 8-bit	51⁄4inch	Single	1	40	18	128	Soft	90kB	288	FM
Dual	26	128	130kB	MFM
Double	18	256	180kB
Double	2	18	256	360 kB	300
Atari ST/TT/Falcon	31⁄2inch	Double	1	80	9	512	Soft	360kB	300	MFM
2	720kB
High	18	1,440kB
Burroughs MD122	8 inch	Double	2	139	44	256	Soft	6.26 MB	524	MFM
Coleco ADAM	51⁄4inch	Double	1	40	8	512	soft	160kB	300	MFM
Commodore 64 (8-bit)	51⁄4inch	Double	1	35	Variable (17-21) ZCAV	256	Soft	170kB	300	GCR
2	340kB
Quad	1	77	Variable (23-29) ZCAV	521kB
2	1,042kB
31⁄2inch	Double	2	80	10	512	800kB	MFM
Commodore 128 (CP/M)	5 1/4	Double	2	40	26	128	Soft	260K	300	MFM	Commodore 1571
16	256	320K
9	512	360K
5	1,024	400K
Commodore 900	51⁄4inch	High	2	80	13-16	512	Soft	1,200kB	?	GCR
DEC RX01	8inch	Single	1	77	26	128		250 kB	360	FM
DEC RX02	8inch	Double	1	77	26	256		500 kB	360	FM/MFM
DEC RX50	51⁄4inch	Quad	1	80	10	512		400kB	300	MFM
HP 110	31⁄2inch	Double	2	76	9	512		710kB	600	MFM	HP 9114A
HP 80 9800 1000 and 3000	8inch	Double	2	77	30	256		1.18 MB	360	MFM	HP 9895A
HP 86	51⁄4inch	Double	2	35	16	256		280 kB	300	MFM	HP 9130K
IBM 33FD	8inch	Single	1	77	26	128		240.5 kiB	360	FM	Diskette 1
15	256		277.5 kiB
8	512		296 kiB
IBM 43FD	2	26	128		481 kiB	Diskette 2
15	256		555 kiB
IBM 53FD	Double	26	256		962 kiB	MFM	Diskette 2D
15	512		1.08 MiB
8	1,024		1.16 MiB
IBM PC compatibles	8inch	Single	1	77	26	128	Soft	250.25kB	360	FM
2	500.5kB
Double	1	8	1,024	616kB	MFM
2	1,232kB
51⁄4inch	Double	1	40	8	512	160kB	300	MFM
2	320kB
1	9	180kB
2	360kB
Quad	1	80	8	320kB	300
2	640kB
High	2	80	15	1,200kB	360
31⁄2inch	Double	1	80	8	512	320kB	300	MFM
9	360kB
2	8	640kB
9	720kB
High	18	1,440kB
21	1,680kB	DMF
82	1,720kB
Extended	80	36	2,880kB
Memorex 650	8 inch	Single	1	50	8	3,500 b	Hard	1.4 Mb	375	FM
Memorex 651	Single	64	32	1.056 b	2.2 Mb
MGT SAM Coupé	31⁄2inch	Double	2	80	10	512		800kB	300	MFM
NEC PC-98	8inch	Single	1	77	26	128		250.25kB	360	FM
Double	2	77	8	1,024		1,232kB	MFM
51⁄4inch	Double	2	80	8	512		640kB	360	MFM
9		720kB
High	15		1,200kB
77(80)	8	1,024		1,232(1,280)kB
31⁄2inch	Double	2	80	8	512		640kB	360	MFM
9		720kB
High	15		1,200kB	3-mode
77(80)	8	1,024		1,232(1,280)kB
80	18	512		1.44 MB	300
Triple	240	38	512		9,120kB	360	NEC PC-88 VA3 2TD drive only
Osborne 1	51⁄4inch	Single	1	40	10	256	Soft	100kB	300	FM
Double	5	1,024	200kB	MFM
Sega SF-7000	3inch	Single	2	40	16	256		160kB	?	?	Expansion unit for SC-3000 home computer. Capacity is per side.
SHARP X68000	51⁄4inch	High	2	77	8	1,024		1,232kB	360	MFM
31⁄2inch
SHARP CE-1600F, CE-140F	21⁄2inch	Single	drive: 1, diskette: 2 (flippable)	16	8	512		2× 64kB	270	GCR (4/5)	Internally based on FDU-250 Micro Floppy Disk Drive Unit
Tandy TRS-80	51⁄4inch	Single	1	35	10	256	Soft	88 kB	300	FM	Model 1/3/4
51⁄4inch	Double	1	40	18	256	180 kB	MFM	Model 1/3/4P
51⁄4inch	Double	2	40	18	256	360 kB	MFM	Model 4D
8inch	Double	1	77	26	256	500 kB	MFM	Model 2
31⁄2inch	Single	1	40	2	1,280	100 kB	FM	Tandy Portable Disk Drive (aka Brother FB-100, knitking FD-19)
31⁄2inch	Single	1	80	2	1,280	200 kB	FM	Used only in Tandy Portable Disk Drive 2
51⁄4inch	Double	1	35	18	256	157 kB	MFM	Color Computer
Thomson	51⁄4inch	Single	1	40	16	128		80kB	300	FM	Thomson UD90.070
Double	2	256		320kB	MFM	Thomson DD90-320
31⁄2inch	Double	1	80	16	256		320 kB	300	MFM	Thomson TO9, Thomson DD09-350
Double	2		640kB	Thomson TO8D, TO9+, Thomson DD90-352
Victor 9000 / ACT Sirius 1	51⁄4inch	Single	1	80	11-19 (variable)	512		612 kB	252-417 (variable)	GCR	Disks varied sectors/track and disk speed to keep consistent bit density across tracks
Double	2	512		1,196 kB
Vtech Laser210/VZ200	51⁄4inch	Single	?	40	16	?	Soft	78 kB	?	FM	RPM: 75.

Platform	Size	Density	Side	Track	Sector	Byte	Sectoring	Capacity	RPM	Encoding	Note
IBM PC Compatible	5 1/4	Quad	2	80	31	512	Soft	2.5MB	300	MFM	Rana 2000 with Rana controller card

Notes

(PDF). Product Reference Literature (Fifthed.). IBM. August 1979.
. David Gesswein.
. University of Amsterdam. from the original on July 2, 2016.

External links

Media related toFloppy diskat Wikimedia Commons
at the Museum of Obsolete Media

List of floppy disk formats

Physical formats

Logical formats

See also

Notes

External links