fri0701
Well-known member
From a 2013 thread about one of the other two Twiggy Macs:Unless there's something unique about the geometry of Mac prototype Twiggy drives, which I suspect is unlikely (but have no idea either way), backup via BLU is likely to work for a disk in fair condition.
The Lisa 1's file format is completely different than that of the early Twiggy Macintosh's file format. This is why we needed to use the "BLU" (Basic Lisa Utility) in order to archive and subsequently duplicate these 2 Macintosh Twiggy disks. The "BLU" (Basic Lisa Utility) has several functions - one of which is to copy any data on a disk (bit-for-bit) that is introduced.
@OldMacGuy - Sounds like a good first step will be to find someone (ideally) local with a Lisa 1, who should be able to read and back up your disk over a serial connection to a modern computer. I'd recommend pursuing a backup now before continuing to test your drive with that disk, so you don't lose any data or corrupt the disk during your testing!
As for the drive itself, there's been some good discussion about Twiggy servicing over at LisaList2 lately. Perhaps you'll find that useful at a starting point:
https://lisalist2.com/index.php/topic,80.0.html
If the controller board on the drive is identical to the one used in a Lisa, I wonder if the whole drive could be hooked up to a Lisa 1 and "exercised" by BLU, which would give you an indication as to whether or not it's working properly. Obviously, you'd have to make *absolutely* sure everything was identical before attempting this...