btrfs-restore

Restore all files from a btrfs filesystem to a given directory

$ sudo btrfs restore [path/to/btrfs_device] [path/to/target_directory]

$ sudo btrfs restore --dry-run [path/to/btrfs_device] [path/to/target_directory]

$ sudo btrfs restore --path-regex [regex] -c [path/to/btrfs_device] [path/to/target_directory]

$ sudo btrfs restore -t [bytenr] [path/to/btrfs_device] [path/to/target_directory]

$ sudo btrfs restore --metadata --xattr --symlinks --overwrite [path/to/btrfs_device] [path/to/target_directory]

btrfs restore [options] <device> <path> | -l <device>

btrfs restore is used to try to salvage files from a damaged filesystem and restore them into path or just list the subvolume tree roots. The filesystem image is not modified.

If the filesystem is damaged and cannot be repaired by the other tools (btrfs-check(8) or btrfs-rescue(8)), btrfs restore could be used to retrieve file data, as far as the metadata are readable. The checks done by restore are less strict and the process is usually able to get far enough to retrieve data from the whole filesystem. This comes at a cost that some data might be incomplete or from older versions if they're available.

There are several options to attempt restoration of various file metadata type. You can try a dry run first to see how well the process goes and use further options to extend the set of restored metadata.

For images with damaged tree structures, there are several options to point the process to some spare copy.

NOTE:

It is recommended to read the following btrfs wiki page if your data is not salvaged with default option:

https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Restore

-s|--snapshots

get also snapshots that are skipped by default

-x|--xattr

get extended attributes

-m|--metadata

restore owner, mode and times for files and directories

-S|--symlinks

restore symbolic links as well as normal files

-i|--ignore-errors

ignore errors during restoration and continue

-o|--overwrite

overwrite directories/files in path, eg. for repeated runs

-t <bytenr>

use bytenr to read the root tree

-f <bytenr>

only restore files that are under specified subvolume root pointed by bytenr

-u|--super <mirror>

use given superblock mirror identified by <mirror>, it can be 0,1 or 2

-r|--root <rootid>

only restore files that are under a specified subvolume whose objectid is rootid

-d

find directory

-l|--list-roots

list subvolume tree roots, can be used as argument for -r

-D|--dry-run

dry run (only list files that would be recovered)

--path-regex <regex>

restore only filenames matching a regular expression (regex(7)) with a mandatory format

^/(|home(|/username(|/Desktop(|/.*))))$

The format is not very comfortable and restores all files in the directories in the whole path, so this is not useful for restoring single file in a deep hierarchy.

-c

ignore case (--path-regex only)

-v|--verbose

(deprecated) alias for global -v option

Global options

-v|--verbose

be verbose and print what is being restored

btrfs restore returns a zero exit status if it succeeds. Non zero is returned in case of failure.

btrfs is part of btrfs-progs. Please refer to the btrfs wiki http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org for further details.

2022

mkfs.btrfs(8), btrfs-rescue(8), btrfs-check(8)