Apple Aperture Getting Started - Manual (Page 28)

28 Chapter 2 Setting Up an Aperture System
Using Additional Hard Disk Storage and FireWire Drives
The disk that contains your computer’s operating system is called the startup disk. In
addition to the operating system, the startup disk also stores your applications (such as
Aperture), application preferences, system settings, documents, and image files. The
more hard disk space you have, the more images Aperture can store. Because you’ll be
shooting and storing many images, you should have at least one high-capacity hard disk.
Aperture can also uses external FireWire drives to store and back up image files. These
external drives can be “daisy-chained,” meaning that you can connect one drive to
another and another. The first drive in the chain is connected to your computer.
FireWire drives are “hot-swappable,” meaning that you can connect and disconnect
them from your computer without having to shut it down first. FireWire drives are also
a great way to add storage space if you are using Aperture on a portable computer.