Suggestion for Forensic System Device

I'm personally not a big fan of FRED systems.

Consider the following as an option as well. I'm sure they will help you find everything you are looking for.
http//www.forensic-computers.com/

Consider the following as an option as well. I'm sure they will help you find everything you are looking for.
http//www.forensic-computers.com/

+1 for their great service.

Some the "forensic" machines are pretty over the top. Which is OK if you have the budget. But if you don't, almost any new computer can do a large percentage of what needs to be done. What I would consider min requirements for efficient working and some future proofing would be,

64bit O/S
4GB RAM, but 8GB+ would be better
Large case to expand into
USB3 ports, External SATA ports
Any new Quad core CPU
Any new 1TB HDD
Dual Monitors

What you can initially do without is Dual Gigabit LAN ports, RAID, discreet sound cards, dual CPUs. Also the Xeon CPUs which I see in some systems are often over priced.

Might make sense to get just a basic machine, then get your guy trained up and some experience, then buy a high end system. After you know what type and volume of work you are dealing with most of the time.

If push comes to shove, you can use any old machine with Linux, Windows, and a bunch of free or open source software to run an entire department.

What you are really paying for is . . . time.

Will it take a day to search that image, or four hours? Will it be 480Mb/sec or 6Gb/sec to image? Do you need to be able to get to that machine in a keystroke, or would physically moving to an other set of kbd and monitor suffice? And, so on…

One can say that one can spend the money on a very high powered machine, and virtualize things in it, or use the same amount and deploy inexpensive but many less powerful machines.

Do you need the indexing of 200GB of PSTs done in 8 hours, or would you survive with 20 hours? Can you connect a hard drive to image and leave it for several hours, or do you have to have that imaged in minutes? Do you have to have a rack mounted pizza box servers and software switcher, with fiber cables, or will you be okay with a bunch of mini towers on the table, and a screen/kbd/mouse for each?

There are some areas where one, in my opinion cannot cut corners, and they primary revolve around confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Thanks For all replies..

Yes Great service is most important I need..

I'll consider forensic_computer.com. thanks for your quote Allend..

@Passmark.. surely I have budget, but should be accountable… would you quote for best forensic training curiculum?

@Jhup.. thanks for your very meaningful advice. I just one person who has been charge for this new required division.. I was hardcore java programmer.. no basic skill in digital forensic.. My plan is I have to build scalable forensic lab.. let say for now I only use dual processor and next year it can plugged with new one or two hardrive (SCSI/SAS)which can be extended with hot swap capability and also with RAM maybe like bladeserver doess… would you share your experience ?

Do you have to have a rack mounted pizza box servers and software switcher, with fiber cables, or will you be okay with a bunch of mini towers on the table, and a screen/kbd/mouse for each?

At least for Keyboard/Mouse Synergy may be useful in a multi-machine/reduced space context
http//synergy-foss.org/

jaclaz