USB Stabilizer Benefits

Software Transparency

USB Stabilizer is an ARM-based hardware drive virtualization system which makes the host computer believe it is communicating directly with the drive when it is actually interacting with USB Stabilizer. The virtualization is fully transparent - the drive connected to USB Stabilizer shows up in Disk Management as if it was connected directly to the PC. As such, absolutely any Windows software can be used with USB Stabilizer, allowing for it to be seamlessly added to any forensic workflow.

Concrete Stability

Regardless of what happens to the drive during data acquisition, as long as the problem is temporary, it will be hidden from the PC by the USB Stabilizer device, preventing the data acquisition process from aborting. It does not matter if the drive throws hard errors that would normally immediately abort imaging, or if it randomly stops responding due to bad sectors or other internal issues, or even if the drive is physically disconnected from USB Stabilizer due to user error or a bad cable - no matter what, the software application you are using to read the drive will never become aware of the issue and your acquisition process will not abort. This capability is critical for time sensitive acquisitions or when working with a physically degraded mass storage device.

High Speed

USB Stabilizer uses a proprietary multi-threaded reading and prefetching engine which accelerates the reading speed of healthy SSDs up to 30% in comparison to a direct USB connection to the PC. The speed of reading physically degraded storage devices is accelerated by multiple times due to the USB Stabilizer automatically resetting or repowering the connected drive when it starts hanging on bad sectors or other read instability issues, allowing data acquisition to move forward at a much faster pace.

Complete Accuracy

Normally when working through an adapter (such as SATA to USB or M.2 to USB), key identification parameters, like the USB SCSI serial number, shown by software tools will actually belong to the adapter and not to the drive, invalidating the forensic process. USB Stabilizer is able to correctly identify SATA and NVMe devices even behind adapters by using ATA-over-USB and NVMe-over-USB commands.

Every single read/write/error is recorded by USB Stabilizer in real time. Everything is saved to the log and also shown graphically to make it clear precisely what is happening in real time. Every USB-SCSI error reported by the drive is logged to help clarify exactly what happened during data acquisition.

Password Unlocking and Access to Hidden Data Areas

If the connected source drive has an ATA Password, or a WD Security Password, USB Stabilizer will immediately identify the situation and request for a password to be entered, after which data acquisition can proceed. Similarly, if the connected drive has any data areas hidden by HPA, DCO, or AMAC then access to all data will be immediately restored to ensure that all evidence is acquired.