By Manny Kressel

CEO and Founder of BitMindz

In recent years, computer forensics has seen a constant rise in the volume of data associated with each case.  This requires a forensic workstation or processing engine system to handle these voluminous cases.  Speed is the key.  Fast processors, RAM, and volumes will get you through your work.  An expertly crafted system with high-end equipment is critical.  Further, this does NOT translate into expensive forensic workstations costing tens of thousands of dollars to manufacture.

Non-Volatile Memory (NVMe) storage, defined on Wikipedia as a type of computer memory that can retain the stored information even after power is removed, was developed in 2009. In contrast, volatile memory needs constant power to retain data.  The benefit of Non-Volatile Memory (NVMe) SSDs is the speeds at which these devices run through the PCIe Bus on the Motherboard.  The current generation of PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express) on higher-end motherboards is at version 5.0.  PCIe 5.0 is twice as fast as PCIe 4.0, with a maximum data transfer rate of 32 GT/s (gigatransfers per second), a maximum unidirectional bandwidth of 64 GB/s (gigabytes per second), and a maximum bidirectional bandwidth of 128 GB/s.

Crucial PCIe 5.0 NVMe 

In testing several of our forensic workstations, which included different motherboards and processors, we consistently scored anywhere from 8,000MB/s to 11,000MB/s with varying NVMe PCIe 5.0 drives.  This makes an outstanding operating system drive for a forensic workstation, as most software installations run off of the same drive we use for the operating system.  These drives are robust and can handle a lot of read/writes (or IOPS), so they make a perfect drive to run the entire system.

Even a system like our RCKTBX Xa or Xi is going to outperform a lot of the forensic workstations on the market because it utilizes the advanced functionality of the Samsung 870 Evo 2.5″ SSD in Rapid Mode for processing files, two (2) Samsung 990’s set in Performance Mode, and then an additional PCIe 5.0 NVMe for the operations system.  This configuration eliminates the bottlenecks in your forensic workstation because the data transfer speeds between the motherboard buses are exceptional.

We are constantly testing the threshold of speed, different adjustments to the operating system, and hardware configurations to get the fastest possible speeds out of a forensic workstation.  It’s just simply what we do.  It’s what we’ve been doing for decades, and there is no end in sight.  Our passion for innovation keeps our workstations running consistently faster than any other system.  If you want to talk unrivaled speeds, then you came to the right place.  We have benchmark scores to show you what unbeatable looks like.  We don’t just say it; we bring it.

For questions or comments, please reach out to Manny Kressel at manny@bitmindz.com