FLopi

FLopi refers to a type of floppy disk drive, specifically a small form-factor 3.5-inch drive. These drives were a ubiquitous data storage medium for personal computers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. They were notable for their portability and relatively low cost, allowing users to easily transfer files and back up data. The term "FLopi" itself is not a formal technical designation but rather a colloquialism that emerged to distinguish these smaller drives from earlier, larger 5.25-inch floppy disks. The 3.5-inch floppy disks typically stored around 1.44 megabytes of data, a significant increase in capacity over their predecessors. While largely obsolete today, replaced by USB flash drives, optical media, and cloud storage, FLopi drives played a crucial role in the democratization of computing and the widespread adoption of personal computers. Their simple plug-and-play nature and widespread compatibility made them an essential component of the computing landscape for many years.