In the year since Atola launched its new flagship product, Atola TaskForce, the product saw three major firmware updates. The latest, 2019.4 version of TaskForce firmware contains a number of features to assist our users with evidence acquisition.
First and foremost, this release introduces imaging to a file on a target device. This popular functionality allows putting a target device in Storage mode to serve as a destination for multiple image files sequentially created on the drive.
In TaskForce, the Storage mode is activated when selecting a target, and the mode will remain active while the drive remains attached to the powered on TaskForce. When a drive is put in Storage mode for the first time, it is formatted to exFAT with large cluster size (32 MB) to ensure the fastest possible imaging.When a drive is in Storage mode, it is marked with a special blue icon in device panels for easy identification.
And here are a few more newly added or enhanced features included in this release:
The support of imaging to a compressed E01 helps minimize file size, especially when data on the evidence drive is highly compressible.
Case management system storage reconfiguration allows to keep it on a server instead of the NVMe drive installed in the unit, allows some of our customers to avoid the tricky certification process of the internal storage within their organization.
The firmware update also features performance enhancement on SAS ports and when imaging to an E01 file.
Case management system’s new optional setting prompts users to fill out case details when an action is launched on a device that is connected to the system for the first time.
The new drive temperature and work interval diagram in diagnostics may give clues about the circumstances of the drive’s recent operation.
TaskForce firmware update from USB stick is now available, too, as an alternative method of firmware update for systems operating in network-free environment.
Japanese language support is now also available for the users of Atola TaskForce in the land of the rising sun.
The work on the next release has already begun, more exciting features are expected to arrive soon!
