ntfsdump

A command-line tool for efficiently extracting files, directories, and alternate data streams directly from NTFS image files.

Overview

ntfsdump is a command-line tool and Python library for extracting files, directories, and alternate data streams from NTFS volumes in disk images without mounting them.

It supports common forensic image formats such as RAW, E01, VHD/VHDX, and VMDK through pytsk3 and libraries from the libyal project.

Features

• Extract files directly from NTFS volumes in disk images
• Dump a single file, multiple files, or an entire directory recursively
• Extract alternate data streams (ADS)
• Reconstruct the original directory structure in the output directory
• Supports RAW, E01, VHD, VHDX, and VMDK image formats
• Read paths from standard input for integration with tools such as ntfsfind
• Use as a command-line tool or Python library

Installation

# From PyPI
pip install ntfsdump

# From GitHub Releases (Precompiled Binaries)
chmod +x ./ntfsdump
./ntfsdump --help

Supported Input

• Image formats: RAW, E01, VHD, VHDX, VMDK
• File system: NTFS
• Partition tables: GPT is supported; MBR may be auto-detected depending on the image

Usage

Command Line Interface

You can pass arguments directly to the CLI. The output path can be either a file path or a directory path.

ntfsdump [OPTIONS] <IMAGE> [PATHS...]

Options:

• --help, -h: Show help message.
• --version, -V: Display program version.
• --quiet, -q: Suppress stdout output.
• --no-log: Prevent log file creation.
• --flat: Extract all artifacts purely into a single folder without reconstructing directories.
• --volume, -n: Target specific NTFS volume number (default: auto-detects main OS volume).
• --format, -f: Image file format (default: raw). Options: raw, e01, vhd, vhdx, vmdk.
• --output, -o: Directory or file to save exported outputs.

Examples

Dump a single file:

ntfsdump -o ./dump ./path/to/your/image.raw /$MFT

Dump an entire directory recursively:

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

Extract from split E01 images by providing the starting .E01 segment:

ntfsdump --format=e01 -o ./dump ./path/to/your/image.E01 /Windows/System32/winevt/Logs

Using with ntfsfind over standard input (pipe):

ntfsfind '.*\.evtx' ./image.raw | ntfsdump -o ./dump ./image.raw

Note: Any absolute path (starting with / or \) passed over stdin via tools like ntfsfind will automatically be cleaned, and the folder hierarchy will be rebuilt faithfully inside your local output directory (./dump/Windows/System32/winevt/Logs/System.evtx).

Python Module

You can incorporate ntfsdump logic into your own scripts.

from ntfsdump import ntfsdump

ntfsdump(
    image='./path/to/your/image.raw',
    paths=['/Windows/System32/winevt/Logs'],
    output='./dump',
    volume=2,
    format='raw'
)

Query Syntax

ntfsdump uses UNIX-like path separators (/) for queries. Depending on the image and backend behavior, path matching may be case-sensitive.

• File: /$MFT -> extracts $MFT
• ADS: /$Extend/$UsnJrnl:$J -> extracts the $J ADS file from $UsnJrnl.
• Directory: /Windows/System32/winevt/Logs -> extracts all event logs recursively.
• Prefix Expansion: /Windows/Prefetch/.* -> extracts all files located in the Prefetch directory.

Logs

By default, an execution log (e.g. ntfsdump_20240101_153205_1234.log) is generated in the current directory to safely record which files were successfully dumped or failed. To disable logging entirely, append the --no-log flag.

Contributing

We welcome bug reports, issues, and feature requests. Please submit them on the GitHub repository. 🍣 🍣 🍣

License

ntfsdump is released under the MIT License.

Powered by:

• pytsk
• libewf
• libvhdi
• libvmdk

Third-party licenses

The standalone binaries distributed via GitHub Releases bundle the following third-party libraries.

LGPL-3.0-or-later

The following libyal libraries are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 or later (LGPL-3.0-or-later). You may obtain, modify, and rebuild them from their upstream sources in accordance with the LGPL.

• libewf / libewf-python
  • Bundled version: libewf-python==20240506 (source: https://github.com/libyal/libewf/releases/tag/20240506)
  • License text: https://github.com/libyal/libewf/blob/main/COPYING.LESSER
• libvhdi / libvhdi-python
  • Bundled version: libvhdi-python==20251119 (source: https://github.com/libyal/libvhdi/releases/tag/20251119)
  • License text: https://github.com/libyal/libvhdi/blob/main/COPYING.LESSER
• libvmdk / libvmdk-python
  • Bundled version: libvmdk-python==20240510 (source: https://github.com/libyal/libvmdk/releases/tag/20240510)
  • License text: https://github.com/libyal/libvmdk/blob/main/COPYING.LESSER

Apache-2.0

• pytsk / pytsk3 — licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
  • Bundled version: pytsk3==20250801
  • License text: https://github.com/py4n6/pytsk/blob/master/LICENSE