ntfscp

ntfscp [options] device source_file destination

ntfscp will copy file to an NTFS volume. destination can be either file or directory. In case if destination is directory specified by name then source_file is copied into this directory, in case if destination is directory and specified by inode number then unnamed data attribute is created for this inode and source_file is copied into it (WARNING: it's unusual to have unnamed data streams in the directories, think twice before specifying directory by inode number).

Below is a summary of all the options that ntfscp 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 NUM

Write to this attribute.

-i, --inode

Treat destination as inode number.

-m, --min-fragments

Minimize fragmentation when allocating space to the attribute. This is mostly useful when creating big files.

-N, --attr-name NAME

Write to attribute with this name.

-n, --no-action

Use this option to make a test run before doing the real copy operation. Volume will be opened read-only and no write will be done.

-f, --force

This will override some sensible defaults, such as not working with 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.

-t, --timestamp

Copy the modification time of source_file to destination. This is not compatible with --attr-name and --attribute.

-V, --version

Show the version number, copyright and license ntfscp.

-v, --verbose

Display more debug/warning/error messages.

All data on NTFS is stored in streams, which can have names. A file can have more than one data streams, but exactly one must have no name. The size of a file is the size of its unnamed data stream. Usually when you don't specify stream name you are access to unnamed data stream. If you want access to named data stream you need to add ":stream_name" to the filename. For example: by opening "some.mp3:artist" you will open stream "artist" in "some.mp3". But windows usually prevent you from accessing to named data streams, so you need to use some program like FAR or utils from cygwin to access named data streams.

Copy new_boot.ini from /home/user as boot.ini to the root of an /dev/hda1 NTFS volume:

ntfscp /dev/hda1 /home/user/new_boot.ini boot.ini

Copy myfile to C:\some\path\myfile:stream (assume that /dev/hda1 letter in windows is C):

ntfscp -N stream /dev/hda1 myfile /some/path

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

ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net

ntfscp was written by Yura Pakhuchiy, with contributions from Anton Altaparmakov and Hil Liao. It was ported to ntfs-3g by Erik Larsson.

With love to Marina Sapego.

ntfscp is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:

https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g

ntfsprogs(8)