scrounge-ntfs(8)

NAME
scrounge-ntfs - helps retrieve data from corrupted NTFS partitions

SYNOPSIS
scrounge-ntfs -l disk
scrounge-ntfs -s disk
scrounge-ntfs [-m mftoffset] [-c clustersize] [-o outdir] disk start end

DESCRIPTION
scrounge-ntfs is a utility that can rescue data from corrupted NTFS partitions. It writes the files retrieved to another working file system. Certain information about the partition needs to be known in advance.

The -l mode is meant to be run in advance of the data corruption, with the output stored away in a file. This allows scrounge-ntfs to recover data reliably. See the 'NOTES' section below for recover info when this isn't the case.

OPTIONS
The options are as follows:

-c  The cluster size (in sectors). When not specified a default of 8 is used.

-l  List partition information for a drive. This will only work when the partition table for the given drive is intact.

-m  When recovering data this specifies the location of the MFT from the beginning of the partition (in sectors). If not specified then no directory information can be used, that is, all rescued files will be written to the same directory.

-o  Directory to put rescued files in. If not specified then files will be placed in the current directory.

-s  Search disk for partition information. (Not implemented yet).

disk
    The raw device used to access the disk which contains the NTFS partition to rescue files from. eg: '/dev/hdc'

start
    The beginning of the NTFS partition (in sectors).

end The end of the NTFS partition (in sectors)

NOTES
If you plan on using this program successfully you should prepare in advance by storing a copy of the partition information. Use the -l option to do this. Eventually searching for disk partition information will be implemented, which will solve this problem.

When only one partition exists on a disk or you want to rescue the first partition there are ways to guess at the sector sizes and MFT location. See the scrounge-ntfs web page for more info:

http://thewalter.net/stef/software/scrounge

AUTHOR
Stef Walter <stef@thewalter.net>