[gighive]

I can't speak for everyone, but have worked with Pro Tools on a number of computers and do record on external HDs. But sometimes you may not have the resources to buy more hardware. On many instances I have recorded to the C drive(not partitioning) with multiple track counts and plugins. Only time I ever really had problems is when the folder was not located in the root of the drive. Others may have issues, but i can't complain.

So if you don't have the cash...you might still be oK. But if you need to do some serious recording, then get some cash!