BTRFS-IMAGE(8)                             Btrfs Manual                            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 indexes won’t match up since the hashes won’t
           match with the garbage filenames. Using -ss 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 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)

Btrfs v4.20.1                               01/23/2019                             BTRFS-IMAGE(8)

usage: btrfs-image [options] source target
        -r              restore metadump image
        -c value        compression level (0 ~ 9)
        -t value        number of threads (1 ~ 32)
        -o              don't mess with the chunk tree when restoring
        -s              sanitize file names, use once to just use garbage, use twice if you want crc collisions
        -w              walk all trees instead of using extent tree, do this if your extent tree is broken
        -m              restore for multiple devices

        In the dump mode, source is the btrfs device and target is the output file (use '-' for stdout).
        In the restore mode, source is the dumped image and target is the btrfs device/file.