So how exactly does Atola TaskForce perform 12 or more imaging sessions or other long-running tasks (hashing, wiping, etc.)?
Multiple processes can run in parallel thanks to TaskForce’s high-capacity hardware.
TaskForce is a forensic hardware that has a 8-thread Xeon CPU. Each of the threads backs imaging at the speed of 550 MB/sec (or faster on SAS and extension ports). Should a drive’s native speed be lower than that, the respective thread’s capacity is freed up for more workload. It means that you can launch more than 8 tasks at a time: 10, 12 or 15 with no negative affect on individual performance.
For instance, if one of the eight drives engaged in parallel imaging sessions is slow, e.g. an IDE drive with 100 MB/sec native speed, the 9th session will be using the remaining 500 MB/sec capacity of the thread backing the imaging of these drives.
The same is true not only for imaging sessions, but also hashing, wiping, and any other long-running tasks. Please note that hashing is the most capacity-consuming process, and when multiple hashing algorithms are used, the speed may somewhat slow down, though not substantially.
Imaging sessions can be launched one by one, without any waiting period.
Although we claim 15 TB/hour overall performance, if you use the whole capacity of TaskForce’s 8-thread Xeon CPU, you will be able to achieve greater speeds.
Please note that in order to achieve top performance while imaging, you need to either image to a high-speed SSD or to your 10Gb Ethernet network server.
- Top digital forensic conferences in 2024 - January 1, 2024
- 2023. Year in Review - December 31, 2023
- Top digital forensics conferences in 2023 - January 1, 2023
Yulia Samoteykina
Director of Marketing Yulia believes that with a product that is exceptionally good at solving tasks of forensic experts, marketing is about explaining its capabilities to the users. Yulia regularly represents Atola at DFIR events, holds free workshops and webinars about Atola imagers functionality and advocates on the users' behalf to ensure that Atola keeps on adding value and raising the bar for the industry.