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.  Not recommended as this would introduce new
              file name hash mismatches, thus if your  problem  involves  subvolume  tress,  it  can  even  mask
              existing  problems.   Furthermore  kernels can not do proper path resolution due to the introduced
              hash mismatches.

              One -s means just generate random garbage, which means that the directory  hash  won't  match  its
              file  names.   Using two -s will calculate a collision for the file name 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.

       -w     Walk  all  the  trees  manually  and  copy any blocks that are referenced. 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 provided.

EXIT STATUS

       btrfs-image will return 0 if no error happened.  If any problems happened, 1 will be returned.

SEE ALSO

       mkfs.btrfs(8)

6.12                                              Jan 03, 2025                                    BTRFS-IMAGE(8)