PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

SuperDisk Drive

The only serious competitor to the Zip Drive in the high-capacity floppy drive segment is the SuperDisk Drive, which was developed by Panasonic, Compaq, Imation, and others. SuperDisk Drive disks closely resemble standard 3.5-inch 1.44 MB diskettes, but are distinguishable by their triangular media shutter and trapezoidal labeling space. SuperDisk disks can be read and written only in a SuperDisk Drive.

The SuperDisk Drive was intended to be a universal replacement for the standard 3.5-inch 1.44 MB FDD, a goal that it failed to achieve. The SuperDisk Drive was originally available only in the 120 MB LS-120 model. In 2001, Panasonic finally began shipping the long-promised 240 MB LS-240 model to OEMs. Although a few system makers, notably Compaq, bundled SuperDisk Drives with some models, the SuperDisk Drive has always been a distant second to the Zip Drive in popularity.

Warning

Although Panasonic still makes LS-120 and LS-240 SuperDisk Drives, the drives and media have very limited distribution, primarily by notebook computer OEMs. We consider the long-term viability of the SuperDisk Drive dubious. They are at best niche products, and at worst may be orphaned at any time.