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https://github.com/Lazza/RecuperaBit

A tool for forensic file system reconstruction.
https://github.com/Lazza/RecuperaBit

dfir disk forensics ntfs partition recover-files

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A tool for forensic file system reconstruction.

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README 

        



# ![RecuperaBit](http://i.imgur.com/Q6mM385.jpg)



[![Support via PayPal](https://cdn.rawgit.com/twolfson/paypal-github-button/1.0.0/dist/button.svg)](https://www.paypal.me/AndreaLazzarotto/)



A software which attempts to reconstruct file system structures and recover

files. Currently it supports only NTFS.



RecuperaBit attempts reconstruction of the directory structure regardless of:



- missing partition table

- unknown partition boundaries

- partially-overwritten metadata

- quick format



You can get more information about **the reconstruction algorithms** and the

architecture used in RecuperaBit by reading

[my MSc thesis](https://www.scribd.com/doc/309337813/) or checking out [the

slides](http://www.slideshare.net/TheLazza/recuperabit-forensic-file-system-reconstruction-given-partially-corrupted-metadata).



## Usage



    usage: main.py [-h] [-s SAVEFILE] [-w] [-o OUTPUTDIR] path



    Reconstruct the directory structure of possibly damaged filesystems.



    positional arguments:

      path                  path to the disk image



    optional arguments:

      -h, --help            show this help message and exit

      -s SAVEFILE, --savefile SAVEFILE

                            path of the scan save file

      -w, --overwrite       force overwrite of the save file

      -o OUTPUTDIR, --outputdir OUTPUTDIR

                            directory for restored contents and output files



The main argument is the `path` to a bitstream image of a disk or partition.

RecuperaBit automatically determines the sectors from which partitions start.



RecuperaBit does not modify the disk image, however it does read some parts of

it multiple times through the execution. It should also work on real devices,

such as `/dev/sda` but **this is not advised** for damaged drives. RecuperaBit

might worsen the situation by "stressing" a damaged drive or it could crash due

to an I/O error.



Optionally, a save file can be specified with `-s`. The first time, after the

scanning process, results are saved in the file. After the first run, the file

is read to only analyze interesting sectors and speed up the loading phase.



Overwriting the save file can be forced with `-w`.



RecuperaBit includes a small command line that allows the user to recover files

and export the contents of a partition in CSV or

[body file](http://wiki.sleuthkit.org/index.php?title=Body_file) format. These

are exported in the directory specified by `-o` (or `recuperabit_output`).



### Limitation



Currently RecuperaBit does not work with compressed files on an NTFS filesystem.

If you have deep knowledge of the inner workings of file compression on NTFS

filesystem, your help would be much appreciated, as available documentation is

quite sparse on the topic.



### Pypy



RecuperaBit can be run with the standard cPython implementation, however speed

can be increased by using it with the Pypy interpreter and JIT compiler:



    pypy3 main.py /path/to/disk.img



### Recovery of File Contents



Files can be restored one at a time or recursively, starting from a directory.

After the scanning process has completed, you can check the list of partitions

that can be recovered by issuing the following command at the prompt:



    recoverable



Each line shows information about a partition. Let's consider the following

output example:



    Partition #0 -> Partition (NTFS, 15.00 MB, 11 files, Recoverable, Offset: 2048, Offset (b): 1048576, Sec/Clus: 8, MFT offset: 2080, MFT mirror offset: 17400)



If you want to recover files starting from a specific directory, you can either

print the tree on screen with the `tree` command (very verbose for large drives)

or you can export a CSV list of files (see `help` for details).



If you rather want to extract all files from the *Root* and the *Lost Files*

nodes, you need to know the identifier for the root directory, depending on

the file system type. The following are those of file systems supported by

RecuperaBit:



| File System Type | Root Id |

|------------------|---------|

| NTFS             | 5       |



The id for *Lost Files* is -1 **for every file system.**



Therefore, to restore `Partition #0` in our example, you need to run:



    restore 0 5

    restore 0 -1



The files will be saved inside the output directory specified by `-o`.



## License



This software is released under the GNU GPLv3. See `LICENSE` for more details.