FileWare

FileWare, also known by its codename "Twiggy", is a proprietary floppy disk format developed by Apple Computer.

History
Apple began developing its own 5&frac14;-inch format for the Apple III computer, which was codenamed "Twiggy" after the 1960s fashion model. However, the FileWare drive was not implemented until the release of the Apple Lisa. Due to reliability problems with the drive, the Lisa 2 replaced the Twiggy mechanism with a smaller new 3&frac12;-inch format developed by Sony.

An external version of the FileWare drive became available as the Unifile. A dual-drive DuoFile was prototyped and is considered a rare collectible item today.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wanted the the new Macintosh platform to support FileWare disks and had working prototypes built with such a drive. However, staff who were concerned about the poor reliability of the FileWare mechanism maintained contact with Sony in hopes of adopting the newer 3&frac12;" format. This smaller drive ended up being implemented in the original Macintosh 128K in 1984.

Articles

 * Report on Twiggy Mac Disks by Dog Cow at Mac GUI (2014-02-07)