libsmdev vs rastrea2r: 2026 Comparison
libsmdev is a free digital forensics and incident response tool. rastrea2r is a free digital forensics and incident response tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best digital forensics and incident response fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Forensic investigators and incident responders who need low-level raw access to storage devices will appreciate libsmdev's direct partition and filesystem parsing without the GUI overhead of commercial tools. The library's Unix philosophy approach means you're working with proven, auditable code rather than black-box forensic suites, which matters when findings need to survive legal scrutiny. Skip this if your team lacks command-line comfort or needs automated triage; libsmdev requires manual interpretation and won't hand you a timeline or keyword search interface.
Incident responders and forensic analysts who need to pull artifacts from live Windows systems fast will get the most from rastrea2r; it collects memory, registry, event logs, and file metadata in minutes without requiring agent deployment or vendor lock-in. At 117 GitHub stars with active maintenance, it's proven in real investigations where responders need raw forensic data before systems go dark. Skip this if your team relies on commercial DFIR platforms for normalized reporting and automated timeline analysis; rastrea2r is a collection workhorse, not an investigation platform.
