Q: I remember that it was always standard operating procedure to have a second hard drive in your computer for recording audio. With today’s high-speed drives and computers is that still necessary, or can you record from the boot drive?

A: From the Sweetwater Service Department: Audio record drives are still as important as ever. While most Mac and Windows computers ship with system drives that have plenty of space on them, there are several drawbacks to recording directly to a system drive. First, they are quickly filled up with music libraries (iTunes, etc.), photo libraries, and program data. Second, system drives are often busy performing other tasks, not only the operating system, but also streaming samples from virtual instruments (some can be installed to yet another drive, some can’t), and other tasks that may interrupt or take precedence over recording audio.