The aim of this page is to provide (and keep updated) a list of hardware suggestions/recommendations for anyone considering building or buying a forensic workstation for imaging and analysis.

Cost is as much a factor as performance in many of our purchasing decisions and the focus of the recommendations is on hardware which gets the job done but also represents value for money.

Note: Please feel free to suggest any changes or additions to this list here.

Self Build

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad

Motherboard

ASUS P5E3

RAM

Crucial Ballistix (www.crucial.com/ballistix/)
G.Skill (www.gskill.com/indexen.html)
GEIL PC8500 Ultra (www.geilusa.com)
Tip: 4GB for 32-bit machines, 8GB for 64-bit.

Hard drive

Seagate
Hitachi SATA

IDE/SCSI/Firewire/RAID controllers

Firewire B
3Ware RAID

CD/DVD writer

Plextor/Lite-On/LG

Video card

Matrox G550
Matrox DualHead2Go (dual monitor gizmo)
Tip: Check current status of GPU usage for password cracking

Sound card

Any 6 channel card

Network interface

Intel Pro 1000 series

Removable drive bays

CRU dataport (www.cru-dataport.com)

Floppy drive

Sony

Memory card reader

Recommendation needed

Backup storage

Dual layer DVD

Power supply

Antec True power 1000W (www.antec.com)
Sea Sonic (www.seasonic.com)

UPS

Recommendation needed

Case

Cooler Master Cosmos (www.coolermaster.com)

Monitor

Dell LCD
NEC Multisync 90GX w/ Opticlear

Hardware write blocker

Tableau - various models (www.tableau.com)
WiebeTech ComboDock 4 (www.wiebetech.com)

Standalone disk copier

Voom Technologies Hardcopy II (http://www.voomtech.com/hc2.html) - 1552 USD

Network Tap

NetOptics Teeny Tap (www.netoptics.com)

USB ThumbDrive

Corsair Flash voyager GT

Keyboard & Mouse

Microsoft ComfortCurve Keyboard 2000

Travel case

Hardigg Storm
Pelican 1600

Evidence Bags/Tape

Alert™ Evidence & Chain of Custody Bag (alertsecurityproducts.com)
DEBASAFE bags

Off the Shelf

Mac Pro

Mobile Workstations

Dell M1710 Sager 98 series (www.sagernotebook.com)
Rock (www.rockdirect.com)
Tip: Look for onboard fw800

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