Assuming a FW drive has acceptable multimedia spec, there's no reason why you couldn't use it as a record and playback destination for digital audio. 7200 RPMS is the spec to look for in Firewire drives. Glyph makes high end audio drives, and we've also tested VST smart disk HDs.

The 896 provides a "passthru" for daisy chaining a firewire HD. If you have an 828 you can daisy chain it to the HD (if the HD has a passthu)... or you can use a powered firewire hub.