Storage system having an in-line hardware accelerator

A storage system that includes an in-line hardware accelerator, a solid-state drive (SSD) unit, a central processing unit (CPU), a volatile memory module, and an accelerator memory module that is coupled to the in-line hardware accelerator or belongs to the in-line hardware accelerator; wherein the in-line hardware accelerator is directly coupled to the SSD unit, the volatile memory and the non-volatile memory; wherein the CPU is directly coupled to the volatile memory and to the non-volatile memory; wherein the in-line hardware accelerator is configured to manage access to the SSD unit; wherein the in-line accelerator is configured to retrieve data stored in the volatile memory module and the non-volatile memory module without involving the CPU.