Twiggy floppy drive

E77070

The Twiggy floppy drive was Apple’s proprietary, high-capacity but unreliable 5.25-inch floppy disk drive used in early versions of the Apple Lisa computer.

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Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
Apple internal codename "Twiggy" 1

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf computer storage device
floppy disk drive
associatedWith Apple Lisa
surface form: Apple Lisa operating system

early Macintosh development history
bootDeviceFor early Apple Lisa configurations
capacityPerDisk approximately 871 KB
capacityPerSide approximately 435 KB
collectibleStatus rare
compatibility incompatible with standard 5.25-inch floppy disks
controlElectronics custom Apple controller board
dataEncoding GCR
dataTransferMethod serial bitstream over proprietary cable
designedFor business computing environment
developmentEra early 1980s
diskCapacityComparison higher capacity than contemporary 5.25-inch Apple II floppies
engineeringGoal provide near-megabyte removable storage
fileSystemSupport Lisa File System
formFactor 5.25-inch floppy drive
historicalSignificance example of failed proprietary storage format by Apple
intendedAs high-capacity floppy solution
interface proprietary Apple interface
introducedFor original Apple Lisa
legacy influenced Apple’s later adoption of standardized floppy formats
manufacturer Apple Inc.
surface form: Apple Computer, Inc.
marketAvailability limited
mediaBranding Apple Twiggy disks
mediaDiameter 5.25 inches
mediaType flexible magnetic disk
mountingType internal 5.25-inch bay
nameOrigin Twiggy floppy drive self-linksurface differs
surface form: Apple internal codename "Twiggy"
notableCharacteristic mechanically fragile
proprietary disk format
sensitive to disk alignment
unreliable in practice
numberOfDrivesInLisa1 2
operatingSystemSupport Lisa OS
surface form: Lisa Office System

Lisa Workshop
powerRequirement internal drive power from Lisa system
reasonForReplacement reliability problems
standardization on Sony 3.5-inch format
replacedBy Sony 3.5-inch floppy drive
replacedInProduct Macintosh XL
surface form: Apple Lisa 2
requires special Twiggy floppy disks
sides double-sided
status discontinued
storageMedium Twiggy floppy disk
usedIn Apple Lisa
Lisa 1
usedWith Motorola 68000 family
surface form: Motorola 68000-based Lisa hardware

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Apple Lisa hasPart Twiggy floppy drive
Twiggy floppy drive nameOrigin Twiggy floppy drive self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Apple internal codename "Twiggy"