NTFSCAT(8) System Manager's Manual NTFSCAT(8)

ntfscat - print NTFS files and streams on the standard output

[options] device [file]

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.

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.

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.

Display this named attribute, stream.
Specify a file by its inode number instead of its name.
This will override some sensible defaults, such as not using a mounted volume. Use this option with caution.
Show a list of options with a brief description of each one.
Suppress some debug/warning/error messages.
Show the version number, copyright and license ntfscat.
Display more debug/warning/error messages.

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

There are no known problems with ntfscat. If you find a bug please send an email describing the problem to the development team:
ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net

ntfscat was written by Richard Russon, Anton Altaparmakov and Szabolcs Szakacsits. It was ported to ntfs-3g by Erik Larsson.

ntfscat is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:
https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g/wiki/

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

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

September 2007 ntfs-3g 2022.10.3