1. A method comprising: intercepting a first packet from a network link at a node coupled to the network link, the node including persistent storage devices organized as a plurality of volumes having a hierarchical file system; computing a first hash value based on a network flow of the first packet; recording the first packet in a packet capture (PCAP) format as a first PCAP record including the first hash value and first flow metadata appended to the first PCAP record; copying the first PCAP record to a first metadata repository stored as a first file on a first volume of the hierarchical file system of the node, wherein the first metadata repository stores a plurality of second PCAP records having second hash values and second flow metadata; and concurrently searching and retrieving one or more of the second PCAP records of the first metadata repository while copying the first packet to a data repository stored as a second file of a second volume of the hierarchical file system of the node to realize a substantially high sustained packet transfer rate of the network link.