Is it possible to search for files which are hard links or have multiple data streams ?

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shodan
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:40 am

Is it possible to search for files which are hard links or have multiple data streams ?

Post by shodan »

multiple data streams are a very obscure feature of NTFS also known as alternate data stream

Basically multiple different files that have the same name.

There is also hardlinks that I am curious to find if there are any on my system ?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Hard_links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Alte ... ream_(ADS)
void
Developer
Posts: 16698
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Is it possible to search for files which are hard links or have multiple data streams ?

Post by void »

Everything 1.5 will be able to show hardlink names and alternate data stream names.



To find files that have multiple hard links, include the following in your search:

hard-link-count:>1



To view the hard link names:
  • Right click the result list column header and click Add columns....
  • Search for: hard
  • Select Hard Link Filenames and click OK.


To find files that have alternative data streams, include the following in your search:

alternate-data-stream-count:



To view the alternate data stream names:
  • Right click the result list column header and click Add columns....
  • Search for: hard
  • Select Alternate Data Stream Names and click OK.
shodan
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:40 am

Re: Is it possible to search for files which are hard links or have multiple data streams ?

Post by shodan »

Thanks !!

Very interesting, I found way more of them than I suspected !

I was curious to know what else could be known about these files

I found in the columns Hard link Count and Hard link filenames
2023-07-04 03_11_45-hard-link-count__1 - Everything (1.5a) 1.5.0.1330a (x64).png
2023-07-04 03_11_45-hard-link-count__1 - Everything (1.5a) 1.5.0.1330a (x64).png (490.96 KiB) Viewed 5173 times
Is it possible with an URL like ES:\\hard-link-count:>1

To specify columns to add to the view ?

maybe something like

ES:\\hard-link-count:>1,-add-columns%20 ... 0Filenames"

interesting alternate streams are much less common !

2023-07-04 03_31_49-alternate-data-stream-count__1 - Everything (1.5a) 1.5.0.1330a (x64).png
2023-07-04 03_31_49-alternate-data-stream-count__1 - Everything (1.5a) 1.5.0.1330a (x64).png (30.3 KiB) Viewed 5173 times
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