NTFS Attributes

As I mentioned earlier, the MFT is a database. The records in this database contain attributes that describe elements of the file system such as files, directories, filenames, and so forth. These attributes are defined by the $AttrDef metadata record. Each attribute is given a code number that identifies it in the MFT records.

Following is a brief description of each attribute. If you would like to see this list in a production file system, the attributes are defined in the $Attribute metadata record. You can't see this record from the operating system shell, but you can scan the NTFS volume using a hex editor and search for any of the attribute names. Remember that they are prefixed with a dollar sign ($).

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