#compact disc

From floppy disks to compact discs, the OGs of data storage may seem like outdated relics now, but they were once the coolest kids on the block! These disks were commonly used for data backup and storage during the 1990s but became obsolete with the introduction of CD-R discs and USB thumb drives. Sales declined after 1999 due to the falling cost of CD-R and CD-RW disks, followed by USB flash drives, and the Zip 100 was discontinued in 2004, with the Zip 250 and Zip 750 following suit in 2006. CF (CompactFlash) Card CompactFlash (CF) is a type of solid-state data storage format that was introduced by SanDisk in 1994. [caption id="attachment_340883" align="alignnone" width="720"] Photo/ Obsolete Media[/caption] CompactFlash cards come in two sizes, Type I (3.3 mm thick) and the thicker Type II (CF2) cards (5 mm thick). The Type II slot is usually used by Microdrives or adaptors for other memory card types, although a few early CompactFlash cards were Type II size. While their larger size makes them less appropriate for very small consumer devices, CompactFlash cards are less likely to break and easier to insert and remove. Compact Disc-ReWritable (CD-RW) and Compact Disc-Recordable (CD-R) CD-R and CD-RW discs were once the king of the world, able to store up to 700 MB of data and making file transfers a breeze. Read more in our articles including "Storage Drives of the Past: Do you still remember them?" and "Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Review".