NTFSCAT

Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
Updated: September 2007
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NAME

ntfscat - print NTFS files and streams on the standard output  

SYNOPSIS

[options] device [file]  

DESCRIPTION

ntfscat will read a file or stream from an NTFS volume and display the contents on the standard output.

The case of the filename passed to ntfscat is ignored.  

OPTIONS

Below is a summary of all the options that ntfscat accepts. Nearly all options have two equivalent names. The short name is preceded by - and the long name is preceded by --. Any single letter options, that don't take an argument, can be combined into a single command, e.g. -fv is equivalent to -f -v. Long named options can be abbreviated to any unique prefix of their name.
-a, --attribute TYPE
Display the contents of a particular attribute type. By default, the unnamed $DATA attribute will be shown. The attribute can be specified by a number in decimal or hexadecimal, or by name.
HexDecimalName
0x1016"$STANDARD_INFORMATION"
0x2032"$ATTRIBUTE_LIST"
0x3048"$FILE_NAME"
0x4064"$OBJECT_ID"
0x5080"$SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR"
0x6096"$VOLUME_NAME"
0x70112"$VOLUME_INFORMATION"
0x80128"$DATA"
0x90144"$INDEX_ROOT"
0xA0160"$INDEX_ALLOCATION"
0xB0176"$BITMAP"
0xC0192"$REPARSE_POINT"
0xD0208"$EA_INFORMATION"
0xE0224"$EA"
0xF0240"$PROPERTY_SET"
0x100256"$LOGGED_UTILITY_STREAM"

Notes The attribute names may be given without the leading $ symbol.
If you use the $ symbol, you must quote the name to prevent the shell interpreting the name.

-n, --attribute-name NAME
Display this named attribute, stream.
-i, --inode NUM
Specify a file by its inode number instead of its name.
-f, --force
This will override some sensible defaults, such as not using a mounted volume. Use this option with caution.
-h, --help
Show a list of options with a brief description of each one.
-q, --quiet
Suppress some debug/warning/error messages.
-V, --version
Show the version number, copyright and license ntfscat.
-v, --verbose
Display more debug/warning/error messages.
 

EXAMPLES

Display the contents of a file in the root of an NTFS volume.

ntfscat /dev/hda1 boot.ini

Display the contents of a file in a subdirectory of an NTFS volume.

ntfscat /dev/hda1 /winnt/system32/drivers/etc/hosts

Display the contents of the $INDEX_ROOT attribute of the root directory (inode 5).

ntfscat /dev/hda1 -a INDEX_ROOT -i 5 | hexdump -C

 

BUGS

There are no known problems with ntfscat. If you find a bug please send an email describing the problem to the development team:
linux-ntfs-dev@lists.sourceforge.net  

AUTHORS

ntfscat was written by Richard Russon, Anton Altaparmakov and Szabolcs Szakacsits.  

AVAILABILITY

ntfscat is part of the ntfsprogs package and is available from:
http://www.linux-ntfs.org/content/view/19/37

The manual pages are available online at:
http://man.linux-ntfs.org/  

SEE ALSO

Read libntfs(8) for details how to access encrypted files.

libntfs(8), ntfsls(8), ntfsprogs(8)