BTRFS-IMAGE(8) BTRFS BTRFS-IMAGE(8)
NAME
btrfs-image - create/restore an image of the filesystem
SYNOPSIS
btrfs-image [options] <source> <target>
DESCRIPTION
btrfs-image is used to create an image of a btrfs filesystem. All data
will be zeroed, but metadata and the like is preserved. Mainly used
for debugging purposes.
In the dump mode, source is the btrfs device/file and target is the
output file (use - for stdout).
In the restore mode (option -r), source is the dumped image and target
is the btrfs device/file.
OPTIONS
-r Restore metadump image. By default, this fixes super's chunk
tree, by using 1 stripe pointing to primary device, so that file
system can be restored by running tree log reply if possible. To
restore without changing number of stripes in chunk tree check
-o option.
-c <value>
Compression level (0 ~ 9).
-t <value>
Number of threads (1 ~ 32) to be used to process the image dump
or restore.
-o Use the old restore method, this does not fixup the chunk tree
so the restored file system will not be able to be mounted.
-s Sanitize the file names when generating the image. One -s means
just generate random garbage, which means that the directory in-
dexes won't match up since the hashes won't match with the
garbage filenames. Using -s will calculate a collision for the
filename so that the hashes match, and if it can't calculate a
collision then it will just generate garbage. The collision
calculator is very time and CPU intensive so only use it if you
are having problems with your file system tree and need to have
it mostly working.
-w Walk all the trees manually and copy any blocks that are refer-
enced. Use this option if your extent tree is corrupted to make
sure that all of the metadata is captured.
-m Restore for multiple devices, more than 1 device should be pro-
vided.
EXIT STATUS
btrfs-image will return 0 if no error happened. If any problems hap-
pened, 1 will be returned.
SEE ALSO
mkfs.btrfs(8)
6.6.3 Mar 31, 2024 BTRFS-IMAGE(8)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 17:10:10 CET 2025.