ntfscat(8)

ntfscat8

Print ntfs files and streams on the standard output

Usage

[options] device [file]

Overview

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

Releases

12 releases since Debian 3.1 (Sarge); the text changed 8 times.

  1. 3.1
  2. 4.0
  3. 5.0–6.0
  4. 7
  5. 8
  6. 9
  7. 10–11
  8. 12–13
  9. Arch

--attribute since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --attribute-name since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --inode since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --verbose since Debian 4.0 (Etch); -a since Debian 4.0 (Etch); -i since Debian 4.0 (Etch); -n since Debian 4.0 (Etch).

--vebose until Debian 3.1 (Sarge).

Bugs

There are no known problems with ntfscat. If you find a bug please send an email describing the problem to the development team:
[email protected]

Authors

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

Availability

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

From ntfsprogs 2026.9.28-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.