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.

Hex	Decimal	Name
0x10	16	"$STANDARD_INFORMATION"
0x20	32	"$ATTRIBUTE_LIST"
0x30	48	"$FILE_NAME"
0x40	64	"$OBJECT_ID"
0x50	80	"$SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR"
0x60	96	"$VOLUME_NAME"
0x70	112	"$VOLUME_INFORMATION"
0x80	128	"$DATA"
0x90	144	"$INDEX_ROOT"
0xA0	160	"$INDEX_ALLOCATION"
0xB0	176	"$BITMAP"
0xC0	192	"$REPARSE_POINT"
0xD0	208	"$EA_INFORMATION"
0xE0	224	"$EA"
0xF0	240	"$PROPERTY_SET"
0x100	256	"$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/