Ubuntu Manpage: rifiuti2 - MS Windows recycle bin analysis tool

NAME

       rifiuti2 - MS Windows recycle bin analysis tool

SYNOPSIS

       rifiuti [-hvz] [-x | [-8n] [-t delim]] [-l codepage] [-o outfile] filename

       rifiuti-vista [-hvz] [-x | [-8n] [-t delim]] [-o outfile] file_or_directory

DESCRIPTION

Rifiuti2 analyse recycle bin files from Windows. Analysis of Windows recycle bin is usually carried out
during Windows computer forensics. Rifiuti2 can extract file deletion time, original path and size of
deleted files and whether the deleted files have been moved out from the recycle bin since they are
trashed.

Rifiuti2 supports a wide range of Windows versions, from Windows 98 to Windows 10. The command used for
analysis depends on the version of Windows producing the recycle bin (not the version of users´ system!),
which uses vastly different format before and after Vista:

• rifiuti-vista: For Vista or later, which is located in \$Recycle.bin\<SID>\. Each deleted file
has its own accompanied index file remembering the original path, file size and deletion time. If
original file is permanentsly deleted, so is the index file.

• rifiuti: For Windows 98 to XP, which uses a single index file named INFO2 under either \RECYCLED\
or \RECYCLER\<SID>\ (depending on filesystem). This file keeps track record for deletion status
and info for all deleted items, including those permanently removed or restored.

By default, both programs dump tab-delimited fields on screen, which can be viewed on screen or imported
into spreadsheet program. -x option instructs program to dump XML formatted content instead.

Index field has different meaning for pre-Vista and post-Vista versions. INFO2 has an index number for
each of deletion item indicating the chronological order of items. For Vista version, it means the index
file name instead, which matches pattern “$Ixxxxxx.<ext>”, where x is random alphanumeric character.

Deleted time is represented in UTC time by default. Under tab-delimited mode, the original date/time for‐
mat is preserved, while in XML mode ISO 8601 date/time format is used. For example, 3PM at 2014 X´mas
represented in these modes would be respectively:
2014-12-25 15:00:00
2014-12-25T15:00:00Z
It would be easier for spreadsheet programs to interpret first format.

File size and file path are self-explanatory, but there are some special notes. File size can mean the
real size of deleted file, or the cluster size it occupies on filesystem, depending on recycle bin for‐
mat. File path might not always be displayable on local system because it might contain characters from
other localized version of Windows.

OPTIONS

-o, --output=FILE
Write output to FILE.

-x, --xml
Output in XML format instead of tab-delimited values. With XML mode, all plain text options are
disallowed, and result is always in UTF-8 encoding. See below for plain text options.

-l, --legacy-filename=CODEPAGE
Show legacy filename if available (like “D:\Progra~1\”), and specify the CODEPAGE used in the Win‐
dows system producing this INFO2 file. Any encodings supported by iconv(1) can be used, though for
maximum accuracy of file name results, it is better to stick with Microsoft codepages (such as
CP850 or CP1252 for west European version, CP932 for Japanese, etc).

Note: This option is mandatory if INFO2 file is created by Windows 98. This option does not exist
in rifiuti-vista.

-z, --localtime
Present deletion time in numeric time zone of local system running the program. By default, UTC
time is displayed, which is the time value recorded in index files. Using the X´mas example above,
the time for Berlin (without daylight saving time) would be 2014-12-25T16:00:00+0100 in ISO 8601
format.

Note: It is possible to use any timezone of users´ choice by setting $TZ environment variable,
though not recommended. See ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE section below.

PLAIN TEXT OUTPUT OPTIONS
-t, --delimiter=STRING
String to use as delimiter (TAB by default). Several escaped characters are recognised: \r (CAR‐
RIAGE RETURN), \n (NEW LINE), \t (TAB), \f (FORM FEED), \v (VERTICAL TAB), \e (ESCAPE)

-n, --no-heading
Don´t show recycle bin path name, version and header for each field

-8, --always-utf8
Always display result in UTF-8 encoding

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS
-v, --version
Print version information and exit.

-h, --help
Show help options and exit.

--help-all
Show all help options and exit.

--help-text
Show plain text output options and exit.

EXAMPLES

       rifiuti-vista -x -z -o result.xml \case\S-1-2-3\
              Scan for index files under \case\S-1-2-3\, adjust all deletion time for local time zone, and write
              XML output to result.xml

       rifiuti-vista -n -8 \case\S-1-2-3\
              Show tab-delimited result on screen in UTF-8 encoding without header

       rifiuti-vista -t '\r\n' \case\S-1-2-3\$IF96NJ3.rtf
              Only analyse a single index file and print each field in its own line

       rifiuti -t ',' -o result.csv INFO2
              Change tab-delimited result to comma-delimited and write to result.csv

       rifiuti -l CP1255 -8 -n INFO2
              Read INFO2 from Hebrew version of Windows, display 8.3 file names  on  screen  in  UTF-8  encoding
              without header

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The following environment variables affect execution of program:

       CHARSET, LC_CTYPE
              If  recycle  bin path contains non-ASCII character, these variables affect how they are displayed.
              UTF-8 capable systems are recommended to set CHARSET=UTF-8 or use  appropriate  UTF-8  values  for
              LC_CTYPE  explicitly, otherwise path might be displayed in Universal Character Name sequences like
              \u1234.

       RIFIUTI_DEBUG
              Setting it to any non-empty value would cause programs to print more debugging output to stderr.

       TZ
              If non-empty, indicate user-specified time zone when -z option is used. Normally the time zone in‐
              formation is obtained from system and there is no need to set this variable. However,  it  can  be
              used as a facility to temporarily override timezone for some programs, which can be used for situ‐
              ations like constructing timeline event.

              This  value  is  OS  dependent. For example, for timezone in Los Angeles, the value for Windows is
              “PST8PDT”, while corresponding value on Linux would be “America/Los_Angeles”. Please consult manu‐
              al for your operating system for more info.

              Please see BUGS section below for problems when using this variable.

EXIT STATUS

       Both programs return 0 on success, and >0 if error occurs.

       However rifiuti-vista is more permissive: it still returns success if some (not all) of index  files  are
       invalid.

HISTORY

       Rifiuti2  is a rewrite of rifiuti, a tool of identical purpose written by Foundstone which was later pur‐
       chased by McAfee. Quoting from the original FoundStone page:

              Many computer crime investigations require the reconstruction of a subject´s  Recycle  Bin.  Since
              this  analysis  technique  is executed regularly, we researched the structure of the data found in
              the Recycle Bin repository files (INFO2 files). Rifiuti, the Italian word meaning "trash", was de‐
              veloped to examine the contents of the INFO2 file in the Recycle Bin. ... Rifiuti is built to work
              on multiple platforms and will execute on Windows (through Cygwin), Mac  OS  X,  Linux,  and  *BSD
              platforms.

       However, since the original rifiuti (last updated 2004) can´t analyze recycle bin from any localized ver‐
       sion  of  Windows  (restricted to English), this rewrite effort is born to overcome the limitation. Later
       rifiuti2 was improved to add support for Vista format recycle bin, XML output and  other  extra  features
       not available from original version.

BUGS

       In  very  special circumstance (which author can´t reproduce now), index file of certain deleted item can
       be corrupt, causing incorrect deleted file size to be stored. There is no way  to  report  correct  size.
       This problem shouldn´t happen after Vista though.

       Handling  of  non-ASCII  file  argument  is not satisfactory; it may not work in certain case under MinGW
       bash.

       Non-ASCII deleted item path name may not be always displayed appropriately, especially  on  systems  with
       non-UTF-8  locale (such as Windows cmd, where output is restricted to ANSI codepages).  Storing UTF-8 re‐
       sult into file with -8 or -x option and then opening it with Unicode capable editor could be a solution.

       The calculation of local time might not be correct. For example, documentation of  _tzset()  function  on
       Windows has this statement:
              The  C  run-time library assumes the United States´ rules for implementing the calculation of day‐
              light saving time (DST).
       Therefore the time might not be correct in case the files inside recycle bin are produced on Windows  us‐
       ing other countries as region settings. Besides, the difference between standard time and DST is hardcod‐
       ed to be one hour, which is incorrect for a few selected regions.

       So it is always better to use UTC time whenever possible.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to

              https://github.com/abelcheung/rifiuti2/issues

       Information about rifiuti2 can be found on

              https://abelcheung.github.io/rifiuti2/

COPYRIGHT

       Part  of  the  work  of rifiuti2 is derived from Rifiuti.  Both pieces of software are licensed under the
       simplified BSD license.

AUTHOR

       The main author of rifiuti2 is Abel Cheung <abelcheung@gmail.com>

       The original author of rifiuti is Keith J. Jones <keith.jones@foundstone.com>

       Anthony Wong <ypwong@debian.org> helped in Debian packaging and was author of the original manpage.

0.6.1                                               May 2015                                         RIFIUTI2(1)