14 forgotten technologies that tried to replace the floppy disk

Antiquated disk media is rarer than ever, but floppy disks were once all the rage. These would-be floppy stand-ins, however, ...

Why Did Optical Disc Drives Lose the Market at the Peak of Their Technology? The Secret Development History and Rise and Fall of ODDs, Where Japanese Manufactur…

FM TOWNS, Taiyo Yuden, Pioneer, Plextor, Sanyo Electric. And MediaTek. Deciphering the rise and fall of the PC industry ...
Hackaday

Commodore Disk Drive Becomes General Purpose Computer

The Commodore 1541 was built to do one job—to save and load data from 5.25″ diskettes. [Commodore History] decided to see whether the drive could be put to other purposes, though. Namely, operating as ...
BGR

Why There's Simply No Need For Disc Drives Anymore

If you were to buy a new laptop, you'd have a hard time finding one with a built-in disc drive that can read CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs. That's been the case for years, with Apple famously starting ...
Scientific American magazine

Apple's plan to wipe out disc drives is nearly complete

Apple's old Mac Pro, with two optical drives. It now has zero. (Credit: Apple) The disc drive is dead -- or it's at least issuing a triumphant death rattle. The disc drive is dead -- or it's at least ...
SlashGear

When Did Laptops Get Rid Of CD/DVD Drives?

If you used or owned a laptop in the 2000s, you'd probably remember that it sported either a DVD or Blu-Ray drive for popping in installation discs, movies, and even the occasional album from your ...