carta
tsk_comparedir(1)

tsk_comparedir1

Compare the contents of a directory with the contents of an image or local device.

Usage

tsk_comparedir [-vV] [-n start_inum] [-f fstype] [-i imgtype] [-b dev_sector_size] [-o sector_offset] image [images] comparison_directory

Overview

tsk_comparedir compares the contents of image to the contents of comparison_directory. This can be useful for detecting rootkits and when testing. Rootkits can be detected by comparing the contents of a local directory and a local raw device. The rootkits typically don't hide data when it is read directly from the raw device.

The arguments are as follows:

-o sector_offset

Sector offset for a partition in the image or device to compare with.

-n start_inum

Starting inum for a directory in the image to start the comparison at.

-v

verbose output to stderr

-V

Print version

-f fstype

Specify the file system type. Use '-f list' to list the supported file system types. If not given, autodetection methods are used.

-i imgtype

The format of the image file, such as raw. Use '-i list' to list the supported types. If not given, autodetection methods are used.

-b dev_sector_size

The size (in bytes) of the device sectors. If not given, autodetection methods are used.

image [images]

The disk or partition image to read, whose format is given with '-i'. Multiple image file names can be given if the image is split into multiple segments. If only one image file is given, and its name is the first in a sequence (e.g., as indicated by ending in '.001'), subsequent image segments will be included automatically.

Examples

To compare the directories in image.dd to those in directory:

# tsk_comparedir ./image.dd ./directory

History

  • Arch Linux 2026-11-01 to Debian 8 (Jessie): the text shown here
  • Debian 7 (Wheezy)

-f since Debian 8 (Jessie).

Author

Brian Carrier <carrier at sleuthkit dot org>

Send documentation updates to <doc-updates at sleuthkit dot org>

From sleuthkit 4.15.0-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.