man > btrfs-restore(8)

BTRFS-RESTORE(8)                                BTRFS                               BTRFS-RESTORE(8)

NAME
       btrfs-restore - try to restore files from a damaged filesystem image

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

DESCRIPTION
       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.

OPTIONS
       -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, e.g. 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 for‐
              mat

              ^/(|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

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

AVAILABILITY
       btrfs   is   part   of   btrfs-progs.     Please    refer    to    the    documentation    at
       https://btrfs.readthedocs.io.

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


6.6.3                                       Mar 31, 2024                            BTRFS-RESTORE(8)