OSX on 1 partition (8GB) and OS9 running 5.2LE on another (30GB)

[flmusclehead]

I am recording guitar and voice tracks, usually no more than 4, and using no plug-ins and very simple mixing...is there any reason I shouldn't record to the HD of my G4/700 iMac?...I've read it's not recommended but it seems to work fine...

[lynxxx]

It will work but is not designed to work like this. Session folders/audio files should be on a separate dedicated FireWire drive. PTLE and other apps on the system drive. Less strain on the system, keeps files organized correctly and makes dealing with fragmentation, which will catch up to you eventually, much easier.
Short answer: Temporarily, but not for the long term.

[CCash]

No offense lynxx but where did you get the idea that it had to be firewire drive?

Digidesign doesn't recommend recording to the drive that has your operating system on it, but in real-world practice it's not a problem, as long as you only need to record a small number of tracks simultaneously.

I recorded to my 5400 rpm system drive for a year and a half before I felt I needed more room. Lots of people have. Even then, I think I could record up to 20 tracks at once.

I eventually bought a second 7200 rpm 80MB IDE drive for audio only, which was very easy to install. I noticed an instant improvement in recording track count, and the transport went into record almost immediately, as opposed to waiting a few seconds while the Pro Tools allocated recording space on the 5400 drive.

So, don't worry about it, but if you want to do it "right", invest 60 to 80 dollars and buy a 7200 rpm IDE drive with at least a 2MB cache. Or you can spend more and get an external firewire drive... and have portability.