--- name: "ewfacquirestream" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "libewf" version: "20140816-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/ewfacquirestream" --- # ewfacquirestream(1) acquires data in the EWF format from stdin ## NAME **ewfacquirestream** – acquires data in the EWF format from stdin ## SYNOPSIS **ewfacquirestream** \[**-A** *codepage*\] \[**-b** *number\_of\_sectors*\] \[**-B** *number\_of\_bytes*\] \[**-c** *compression\_values*\] \[**-C** *case\_number*\] \[**-d** *digest\_type*\] \[**-D** *description*\] \[**-e** *examiner\_name*\] \[**-E** *evidence\_number*\] \[**-f** *format*\] \[**-l** *log\_filename*\] \[**-m** *media\_type*\] \[**-M** *media\_flags*\] \[**-N** *notes*\] \[**-o** *offset*\] \[**-p** *process\_buffer\_size*\] \[**-P** *bytes\_per\_sector*\] \[**-S** *segment\_file\_size*\] \[**-t** *target*\] \[**-2** *secondary\_target*\] \[**-hqsvVx**\] ## DESCRIPTION **ewfacquirestream** is a utility to acquire media data from stdin and store it in EWF format (Expert Witness Format). **ewfacquirestream** acquires media data in a format equivalent to EnCase and FTK imager, including meta data. Under Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, MacOS-X/Darwin **ewfacquirestream** is part of the **libewf** package. **libewf** is a library to access the Expert Witness Compression Format (EWF). The options are as follows: - **-A** *codepage* the codepage of header section, options: ascii (default), windows-874, windows-932, windows-936, windows-949, windows-950, windows-1250, windows-1251, windows-1252, windows-1253, windows-1254, windows-1255, windows-1256, windows-1257 or windows-1258 - **-b** *number\_of\_sectors* the number of sectors to read at once (per chunk), options: 16, 32, 64 (default), 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384 or 32768 - **-B** *number\_of\_bytes* the number of bytes to acquire - **-c** *compression\_values* specify the compression values as: level or method:level compression method options: deflate (default) compression level options: none (default), empty-block, fast or best - **-C** *case\_number* the case number (default is case\_number) - **-d** *digest\_type* calculate additional digest (hash) types besides md5, options: sha1, sha256 - **-D** *description* the description (default is description) - **-e** *examiner\_name* the examiner name (default is examiner\_name) - **-E** *evidence\_number* the evidence number (default is evidence\_number) - **-f** *format* the EWF file format to write to, options: ftk, encase2, encase3, encase4, encase5, encase6 (default), encase7, linen5, linen6, linen7, ewfx. **libewf** does not support streamed writes for other EWF formats. - **-h** shows this help - **-l** *log\_filename* logs acquiry errors and the digest (hash) to the log filename - **-m** *media\_type* the media type, options: fixed (default), removable, optical, memory - **-M** *media\_flags* the media flags, options: logical, physical (default) - **-N** *notes* the notes (default is notes) - **-o** *offset* the offset to start to acquire (default is 0) - **-p** *process\_buffer\_size* the process buffer size (default is the chunk size) - **-P** *bytes\_per\_sector* the number of bytes per sector (default is 512) - **-q** quiet shows minimal status information - **-s** swap byte pairs of the media data (from AB to BA) (use this for big to little endian conversion and vice versa) - **-S** *segment\_file\_size* the segment file size in bytes (default is 1.4 GiB) (minimum is 1.0 MiB, maximum is 7.9 EiB for encase6 and encase7 format and 1.9 GiB for other formats) - **-t** *target* the target file (without extension) to write to (default is image) - **-v** verbose output to stderr - **-V** print version - **-x** use the chunk data instead of the buffered read and write functions. - **-2** *secondary\_target* the secondary target file (without extension) to write to **ewfacquirestream** will read from stding until it encounters a read error. On read error it will stop no error information is stored in the EWF file(s). Empty block compression detects blocks of sectors with entirely the same byte data and compresses them using the default compression level. ## ENVIRONMENT None ## FILES None ## EXAMPLES ``` # ewfacquirestream -C 1 -D Floppy -E 1.1 -e 'John D.' -N 'Just a floppy in my system' -m removable -M logical -t floppy . This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ## SEE ALSO [ewfacquire(1)](/ewfacquire/1.md), [ewfexport(1)](/ewfexport/1.md), [ewfinfo(1)](/ewfinfo/1.md), [ewfmount(1)](/ewfmount/1.md), [ewfrecover(1)](/ewfrecover/1.md), [ewfverify(1)](/ewfverify/1.md)