TaskForce 2 Changelog

2026.2

New Features

Atola 25G Fiber Extension support:

• Compatible with TaskForce 2 and TaskForce 1
• Two 25 Gbit SFP28 ports
• Bonding (link aggregation) support
• Built-in fan for reliable cooling

Learn more about the extension module.

New Web API endpoints:

• /scan-port - Powers up the port and retrieves the information of the connected drive.
• /create-case - Creates a new case for a drive and associates it with the provided case details.
• /edit-case - Updates the details of an existing case.

Web API enhancements:

• dnsLookup parameter added to all endpoints that support network share mounting.
• mountOptions parameter added to all endpoints that support network share mounting.
• /check-task endpoint now returns state=initial when no task has been started on the port.

The actual API specification can be found at http://TASKFORCE_IP/api/help.

Imaging: Target image files are now reopened with read-only access when post-hash verification begins. Previously, files remained open with read-write access.

Network:

• Added optional DNS lookup configuration within the UI when connecting to a network share: CIFS mount.
• Network bonding mode is now supported in both TaskForce 2 and TaskForce 1.

Bugfixes

Hashing:

• An out-of-memory crash that could occur when verifying the hash of very large segmented image files (E01).
• Inability to launch two separate Hash tasks for different images on a Storage drive.

Logical imaging: Directory navigation restriction in the file picker that occurred during active L01/ZIP imaging tasks.

Web API:

• Imaging could not start when target server uses an older Samba version (2.1.1) and domain parameter was not specified in the API request.
• /check-task command failed to report the complete network path for resulting L01 images during logical imaging sessions.

A rare issue where remote Work Folder re-indexing would hang.

Valid CIFS mount options were incorrectly filtered out during configuration.

The network card and RAM temperature sensors might be reporting "N/A" instead of real-time thermal data.

2025.11

New Features

System-wide ZFS support.

Active Directory integration via LDAP, enabling centralized management of user accounts and authentication.

Imaging:

• Performance optimization for multiple parallel imaging sessions.
• Improved 'Estimated time left' calculation for damaged drives.

Logical imaging:

• Files can now be imaged from partitions that extend beyond the drive's reported capacity.

Reports:

• Optimized loading of Home and Reports pages.
• Improved handling of missing files linked from reports.
• More detailed logging when Format to exFAT is enabled in Wiping.

Network and connectivity:

• Ability to 'Pin Folder' and 'Pin Server' for existing connections.
• More detailed error messages when connection to a network share fails.
• Added 'bond-lacp-rate fast' and 'bond-ad-select bandwidth' parameters to Bonding configuration.

Bugfixes

Logical imaging:

• Rare out of memory error with specific dataset during repeated process launches.
• APFS parsing error for specific data created in Mojave macOS.
• The task did not start on an image with at least one invalid XFS partition.

Reports:

• Phantom empty reports when scrolling the Home page.
• Reports for tasks completed with errors could be displayed in green.
• Incorrect zip archive size indicated in Logical Imaging report.
• Full list of devices in the case was not displayed in "Case import/export completed" reports.

Imaging:

• Fixed reading of model and serial for iSCSI devices.
• Incorrect scaling of the speed graph when imaging NVMe drive with hundreds of bad blocks.
• 3-byte file signatures were deprecated due to excessive false positive rate.
• Error creating E01 if Evidence ID or Name-Serial value in source exceeds E01 character limit.
• False message displayed when resuming imaging to a non-existent (inaccessible) target folder in Express mode.

Diagnostics:

• Incorrect current measurement graph for IDE drives.

Wiping:

• Incorrect exFAT formatting after wiping with an offset.
• Pattern >512 bytes was not truncated in the report

Web API: /check-task failed upon completion of /start-logical with user management activated.

Missing task completed/stopped notifications for users without admin rights.

Fixed iSCSI device list spacing to display all available targets (previously limited to two).

Enabled "Power down upon completion" setting was affecting quick tasks (View SMART, e.g).

2025.4

New Features

Imaging:

• Imaging of remote drives via iSCSI
• New patterns in target file templates:
  • {EVIDENCE_ID} - Inserts the evidence identifier
  • {NUM+} - Number of increment if a file or folder exists
• 2x increase of NVMe-to-NVMe imaging speed
• New global setting Edit case details upon imaging completion that allows to automatically update target file name, folder path, and metadata when they depend on a file template

RAID enhancements:

• Added Pause/Resume for autodetection
• Support for Synology NAS RAID with missing devices
• Improved auto-reassembly when finding MBR is offset
• Reduced memory usage during RAID operations
• RAID cheat sheet shown when autodetection fails to find a configuration
• Max RAID members increased from 16 to 64

Logical imaging:

• Support for NTFS alternate data streams
• Implemented handling of NTFS soft links
• Tooltips added for various file and folder icons

Diagnostics: Improved representation of specialized partitions (e.g., Microsoft Reserved, macOS Boot)

New HEX Viewer:

• System-wide HEX viewer for drives and image files.
• HEX Viewer for files in Logical imaging and Browse files.

Wiping: New "Format to exFAT after wiping" option

Case management:

• Added new device fields: Evidence ID and Evidence Examiner
• Notes can now be added to any report log (via green plus icon)
• Case Investigator field renamed to Case Examiner

Network and connectivity:

• Full IPv6 support
• Network connection dialog: it defaults to guest access when no username is provided

Bugfixes

Imaging:

• Resolved slow NVMe drive imaging when 'Read SMART before imaging' option is enabled (disabled by default)
• Fixed issue allowing Express mode activation without selecting a target share folder

Diagnose:

• TaskForce 2 only: Fixed false head check failure for SATA drives connected to SAS ports
• Resolved false head check failure for certain IDE drive models

Case management:

• Fixed incorrect sorting by Device column in Cases and Reports
• Ensured Missing Examiner, Organization, and Location fields appear in RAID device reports when they were specified in TaskForce global settings

Resolved a rare issue requiring reboot after extended continuous operation of two or more weeks.

Fixed failure to format specific WD USB drives to TaskForce Storage mode.

Corrected 0B capacity display for NVMe drives connected via Orico USB-NVMe adapters.

Fixed hidden failure to initiate 802.3ad mode during Ethernet bonding activation.

2024.9.1

Feature

New global 'Hostname' setting to change TaskForce's network name.

Bugfix

Remote work folder mapping got lost after TaskForce reboot.

2024.9

New Features

Imaging

Target file templates in physical and logical imaging. Create reusable templates that help the following:

• dynamically create destination folders based on date or other info
• filename generation according to your naming convention
• enter the same file/case details for many images

Improved user experience when imaging to files. Target files are located on a separate tab of the selection panel.

Imaging of high-entropy (encrypted or compressed) data to E01 compressed file uses a new rapid adaptive method resulting in optimization:

• 30-80% speed increase depending on network speed and/or target drive write performance
• TaskForce CPU load reduction from 35% to 10% (per one imaging session)

New optimized Deflate method for imaging of compressible data to E01.

New Global Settings

• Show the date and time instead of the Atola logo at the top bar
• Autofill source case data and/or E01/AFF4/L01 metadata.
• Save system logs into the work folder.

Network setup: New Advanced section in the connection dialog that allows specifying Samba protocol version and mount options for network folders.

SSD Trim: Added support for NVMe drives via the Dataset Management command with Deallocate option.

RAID: New Select all checkbox when selecting multiple drive images as RAID members.

SMART: Improved recognition of vendor-specific SMART attributes for SSD drives.

Bugfixes

Logical Imaging

• The task might stop with an out-of-memory error when there are over 3.5 million files.
• Symbolic files of NTFS partitions were omitted.
• OS Folders filter wasn't working.

Imaging

• A folder with HTML report could not be created on the Storage drive if the folder path contained dots.
• False 'Insufficient space on target device' log message in rare cases.
• When imaging a damaged drive, TaskForce's system log contained too much redundant technical information.

Diagnostics: False firmware check failure for SD cards connected via MCA1307 SATA to SD card adapter.

Global Settings: It was possible to enter zero value in the min field of the Automatically lock screen setting.

Case Management: Enabled "Information about unit's components" had no effect when printing a single report.

In Kiosk mode, the Chrome browser might request downloading updates.

SMART could not be read for several SAS drive models.

2024.6.1

Bugfix

Gateway IP address wasn't working in 2024.6 firmware having TaskForce connected to multiple subnets.

2024.6

New Features

RAID:

• Full automatic reassembly and imaging support of Synology NAS RAID.
• New Layout tab to visualize selected RAID configuration.
• Autodetection module: New Start LBA parameter to specify RAID offset used by autodetection (Gear button).
• Improved memory use and performance optimizations.
• Expand/Collapse buttons for RAID configuration and Partitions panels to improve UX.

Imaging:

• Improved capability to resume imaging in case of power or network connection loss.
• BitLocker volume GUID added to the imaging log.
• Post-hash mode with Segmented hashes creates a CSV file in addition to the performed verification.

Express Mode Imaging

• Port groups: Ability to image some ports to one folder with specific settings and other ports to another with other settings. Multiple groups supported.
• AFF4 added as selectable imaging target.
• New settings: Case ID, Organization, Investigator.

Logical Imaging:

• Wildcards (*, ?) support in file/folder filters.
• Check button enabled for reassembled RAID when autodetection is still running.

System-wide Btrfs support.

System-wide LVM (Logical Volume Manager) support.

Web API:

• Ability to use API when user management system activated.
• New POST call /login.
• New GET call /diagnose.

Diagnose - File System Stage:

• Added analysis of ext4/3/2, XFS, HFS+, HFSX.
• BitLocker volume detection with FVE Metadata blocks.

Case Management:

• New window to select an existing case to improve UX.
• New global setting 'Set default values for all cases': Fills in default values for Investigator, Organization, Location for all new cases.
• New global setting 'Show empty case values in report header'.
• New global setting 'Automatically create a sub-folder with the same name as target image file name'.

Many page headers now link to articles about using TaskForce from the offline manual.

Kiosk mode: The offline manual from the main menu opens in a dialog.

New Hints subsystem displays practical hints to expedite work with TaskForce based on behavior. Hints appear as notifications once, and all can be found in the hint list.

Improved handling of situations where source drive unplugged before starting a task.

Improved recognition of vendor-specific SMART attributes.

LEDs change their state when the firmware boots or updates.

New Blink LED operation for each port.

New Ethernet bonding mode for ETH1 and ETH2 ports.

Bugfixes

Unable to identify USB Seagate One Touch drives.

Imaging:

• Next imaging pass with reverse direction could not start if a source drive had bad sectors during the previous pass.
• Incorrect XFS partition size when its allocation group size was different during imaging partitions.
• Rare visual representation issue with the imaging map graph could result in empty gaps after multiple page refreshes.

RAID: Some exFAT partitions may not open in Partitions tab due to incorrect internal caching.

Diagnose:

• In Multi-launch mode, it could not start when one of selected drives is not detected.
• IDE drives with working Verify but non-working Read commands could be classified as degraded instead of damaged.
• 'Unknown device' in case report header for drives with corrupted firmware.

Web API: /start-image call could not find the built-in Damaged imaging settings.

Possible case report duplication after connection loss and recovery with a remote Work Folder.

Invalid behavior when attempting to start a task against a damaged device with zero byte capacity.

SMART: For NVMe drives, the start page had a description of ATA specification attributes.

2024.2

Bugfixes

Imaging to an E01/AFF4 file on a network share could fail if other software tried to grab the file lock.

Various USB hard disk drives failed to be detected.

Diagnose:

• Possible incorrect diagnostic result for damaged USB flash drives.
• Removed 12V current graph that was not actual for all USB drives.

2024.1

New Features

Verify segmented hashes - new task in the Other section. It helps check the segmented hashes in CSV file created during imaging for any type of target: E01, AFF4, raw image, drive.

System settings:

• Automatically create a subfolder using the target file name option.
  If enabled, the target image will be created in a subfolder of a selected target folder.
• Clear local and session storage button.
  Any settings or temporary data stored in Chrome for the TaskForce web application will be permanently deleted.

Clickable device header in a case report. It opens the device information page if the appropriate device or image is available.

Bugfixes

Failed to open E01 files created by UFS Explorer.

Logical imaging. Check > Download was not handling comas in a generated file name list properly, which broke CSV format.

Reports. Possible first blank page when selecting a report from the list to print.

Minor fix of Other > Customize taskbar and Browse Files compatibility.

2023.11

New Features

Customization of the Taskbar and Other page.

Bugfixes

Logical imaging:

• Task could freeze when imaging compressed files from APFS partitions.
• Rare case of "File was skipped due to reading" error with NTFS file system.

Kiosk mode didn't work properly with HTTPS enabled.

Issue selecting USB work folder after booting without USB DB drive plugged into the DB port.

Slow (20 seconds) search for new TaskForce firmware when updating it over USB.

About 10 missing Chinese and Japanese translations.

2023.10

New Features

RAID:

• Automatic detection of unknown RAID 6 configuration.
• Full RAID 6 reassembly and imaging support.
• RAID 6 imaging speed is 40% higher than imaging of individual RAID members.
• RAID autodetection improvements for other RAID types.
• Maximum number of auto-checked configurations increased from 100,000,000 to 200,000,000.
• Advanced detection of partition types and display of device tags.
• MBR/GPT table information when hovering over the corresponding device tag.

Imaging:

• Check network speed test when selecting a folder for a target image. Click the three-dot button to see the test icon.
• Autosave of imaging progress to resume imaging in case of power or network connection loss.
• Storage. Ability to create multiple subfolders.
• Improved calculation of Estimated time left during imaging.
• Decreased frequency of Speed refresh when facing bad sectors.
• Detailed speed stats indicate more information when imaging to multiple files with identical names in different folders.

NVMe drives:

• New Status bar showing live drive state, including its temperature.
• Diagnostics. Added table of power states, PCIe generation, temperature levels.
• Device page. Added Critical and Warning temperature values.
• Wiping. New method Sanitize from NVM 1.4 specification.

Case management:

• Case contains a list of target images and drives used with a source drive.
• New setting ‘Allow non-unique case names’.
• Ability to delete device from case.
• New report ‘Device was added to case’.

Other > SSD Trim – new task that helps to notify SSD controller about unused blocks.

Other > View SMART. Apple PCIe and M.2 AHCI PCIe drives supported.

Global Settings. For the ETH1 and ETH2 ports, it shows the speed of the network connection.

Bugfixes

No access to network folder with underscore character in hostname.

Widely improved error-handling when someone accidentally unplugs source or target drive during imaging.

Imaging:

• Imaging could not start when the source was an image file with read-only permissions.
• Imaging could not start when a target drive was powered off.
• Unable to resume imaging after connection loss with network Work Folder.

Logical imaging:

• Some old HFS partitions failed to open.
• Resume button did not work for imported case with a logical imaging session created on another TaskForce.

RAID. Applying detected mdadm configuration was not removing Spare drive(s).

Wiping. Multi-launch mode. Format NVM method was mistakenly available for SATA drives.

Case management. Impossible to select the same case for the same Macbook after reconnection.

TOSHIBA MG08ACA16TE drives were not identified until the 2nd attempt.

Occasional error when formatting a target drive to Storage with exFAT.

UI issue on the home page. Blank space when running multiple tasks and scrolling down the page.

2023.7

Initial release