In 1980, Apple created a "Disk Division" led by John Vennard to develop a hard drive ("Pippin") and a new floppy drive ("Twiggy") for the Lisa computer, later meant for all Apple products. I wrote early tests for Twiggy on an Apple II but was glad they chose Rich Williams over me to lead the software—disks alone felt too narrow.
Woz’s Apple II floppy design was industry-leading, so Apple aimed to innovate further. Twiggy boosted capacity by doubling data speed (needing special disks) and adjusting motor speed to pack more data on outer tracks.
Twiggy's Technical Challenges
Lisa had two built-in Twiggy drives, so Mac was also designed to use them. But Twiggy’s timing was too sensitive for Lisa’s complex system. The team solved this by adding a small, fast Apple II inside to control the drives.
Lisa also supported an external hard drive. When Twiggy had error problems, the hard drive became essential. Twiggy was slow due to errors and variable speeds, and Lisa’s OS relied on swapping memory to disk—too slow on floppies. The hard drive raised Lisa’s price by over $1,000.
Production Delays and Mac's Crisis
Lisa launched in January 1983 but couldn’t ship yet. Twiggy’s low production yield and errors delayed shipments until June, and problems continued.
The Mac team panicked—we had one Twiggy drive, no hard drive backup, and no alternative. Twiggy was unreliable and too expensive. Without a fix, Mac would be delayed.
The Sony Solution
Luckily, we discovered Sony’s new 3.5-inch drive, launched in 1983 via HP. George Crow (Mac’s engineer, ex-HP) got one and pushed for Sony. Steve Jobs wanted Apple to build its own version with Alps (a Japanese supplier), ignoring Sony.
George and Bob Belleville thought this was risky—Mac was seven months from launch, and the Disk Division had a bad track record. They secretly kept working with Sony, tasking Larry Kenyon to test the Sony drive. They also negotiated with Sony for custom options.
During a visit, Sony engineer Hide Kamoto hid in a closet when Jobs walked in, fearing questions. Later, Kamoto joked about "strange" American business.
Alps said it would take 18 months—too long. When Bob told Jobs about the Sony work, he agreed they’d done the right thing. Sony’s drives saved Mac. Without them, Mac’s success would’ve been unlikely.
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