SCSI drives typically have higher sustained throughputs than IDE drives, although newer IDE implementations have sufficient data rates for audio. In general, disk drives with fast sustained data rates and large memory caches perform best for multi-track audio. Power Management Power conservation is a significant issue for notebook computer designers and is becoming more popular on newer desktop computers. Most computers are shipped from the factory with some power management applied. Audio applications and USB audio work best when all power management is deactivated.
Power management can spin down hard disks, slow processor and bus speeds, and shut down displays.
Often, when recording long programs, the computer keyboard and mouse are not touched. The computer thinks that it is idle and goes into standby mode. The change in state can cause audible artifacts when recording and playing. Many notebook computers share IRQ's between the display adapter or other devices and the USB controller. This causes additional traffic on the USB's interrupt.