Is an External Hdd necessary if I'm performing without recording?

[Anthology]

No. If there's no recording being done, a second hard drive isn't needed for saving a session. A session can be saved to the same drive that runs Virtual Instruments and Plugins as long as nothing is being recorded.

Any other opinions?

[RuDeMuZiK]

Question?? If you format your external HD to time machine, Will it save lets say for instance a protools music session onto the external HD and not your internal. And if possible is there a way to save onto a external without making external HD Time Machine capable? Im asking because im trying to save work directly onto an external without first saving it to internal then transfering over to EXT HD... it ask to save or change to suitable volume by pressing (P) Play (R) Record. cause if im not mistaking i had it working on my laptop this way but its been a while and wonder if its different on a mac??

[browniespeaks]

it will work without time machine. You will receive performance benefits from hosting your sessions on an external drive. You will receive benefits from hosting your samples on an external drive.

I have recorded 32 track sessions to USB1 5400RPM hard drive without problem. Until I had a problem. Because it works, does not mean it is a best practice.