ntfsdump

An efficient tool for extracting files, directories, and alternate data streams directly from NTFS image files.

Usage

ntfsdump can be executed from the command line or incorporated into a Python script.

$ ntfsdump {{query}} --output-path {{output_dir}} /path/to/imagefile.raw

from ntfsdump import ntfsdump

# imagefile_path: str
# output_path: str
# target_queries: List[str]
# volume_num: Optional[int] = None
# file_type: Literal['raw', 'e01', 'vhd', 'vhdx', 'vmdk'] = 'raw'

ntfsdump(
    imagefile_path='./path/to/your/imagefile.raw',
    output_path='./path/to/output/directory',
    target_queries=['/Windows/System32/winevt/Logs'],
    volume_num=2,
    file_type='raw'
)

Query

This tool allows you to search for and extract file, directory, and ADS paths using regular expression queries.
Paths are separated by forward slashes (Unix/Linux-style) rather than backslashes (Windows-style).

e.g.

Original Path: C:\$MFT
Query: /$MFT

Original Path: C:\$Extend\$UsnJrnl\$J
Query: /$Extend/$UsnJrnl/$J

Original Path: C:\Windows\System32\winevt\Logs
Query: /Windows/System32/winevt/Logs

Queries will be expanded in the future.
If you have any questions, please feel free to submit an issue.

Example

The target path can either be standalone or within a directory.
In the case of a directory, it recursively dumps the files within it.

$ ntfsdump /Windows/System32/winevt/Logs -o ./dump ./path/to/your/imagefile.raw

extracting from E01 image (included splited-E01).

$ ls
imagefile.E01
imagefile.E02
imagefile.E03
imagefile.E04
imagefile.E05

$ ntfsdump /Windows/System32/winevt/Logs --type=e01 -o ./dump ./path/to/your/imagefile.E01

When use with ntfsfind

https://github.com/sumeshi/ntfsfind

$ ntfsfind '.*\.evtx' ./path/to/your/imagefile.raw | ntfsdump ./path/to/your/imagefile.raw

Options

--help, -h:
    Display the help message and exit.

--version, -v:
    Display the program's version number and exit.

--quiet, -q:
    Flag to suppress standard output.

--nolog:
    Flag to prevent any logs from being output.

--volume-num, -n:
    NTFS volume number (default: autodetect).

--type, -t:
    Image file format (default: raw(dd-format)).
    Supported formats are (raw|e01|vhd|vhdx|vmdk).

--output-path, -o:
    Output directory or file path.

    If the target path is a directory, the directory specified by --output-path is created, and the target files are dumped under it.

    Otherwise, the file is dumped with the filename specified in --output-path.

Execution Environment

You can run ntfsdump in the following environments:

Windows: Precompiled binaries for Windows are available in the GitHub releases section.

Ubuntu: Precompiled binaries for Linux are also available in the GitHub releases section.

Python: If you prefer to run ntfsdump using Python, it is compatible with Python 3.11 and later versions (3.12 and above).

Make sure to choose the installation method that best suits your platform and requirements.

Installation

from PyPI

$ pip install ntfsdump

from GitHub Releases

The version compiled into a binary using Nuitka is also available for use.

$ chmod +x ./ntfsdump
$ ./ntfsdump {{options...}}

> ntfsdump.exe {{options...}}

NTFS File Prerequisites

The image file to be processed must meet the following conditions:

• The file format must be raw, e01, vhd, vhdx, or vmdk.
• It must use the NTFS (NT File System).
• It must have a GUID Partition Table (GPT).

Additional file formats will be added in the future.
If you have any questions, please feel free to submit an issue.

Log Format

ntfsdump outputs logs in the following format.
By default, it outputs the files to the current directory, but if you do not need them, please use the --nolog option.

- ntfsdump v{{version}} - 
2022-01-01T00:00:00.000000: [{{EventName}}] {{Description}}
2022-01-01T00:00:00.000000: [{{EventName}}] {{Description}}
2022-01-01T00:00:00.000000: [{{EventName}}] {{Description}}
...

Contributing

The source code for ntfsdump is hosted at GitHub, and you may download, fork, and review it from this repository(https://github.com/sumeshi/ntfsdump).

Please report issues and feature requests. :sushi: :sushi: :sushi:

License

ntfsdump is released under the LGPLv3+ License.

Powered by following libraries.

• pytsk3
• libewf
• libvhdi
• libvmdk
• ntfs-samples
• Nuitka