btrfs-progs/Documentation/btrfs-restore.asciidoc

btrfs-restore(8)
================

NAME
----
btrfs-restore - try to restore files from a damaged btrfs 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.

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

OPTIONS
-------
-s|--snapshots::
get also snapshots that are skippped 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

-v|--verbose::
be verbose and print what is being restored

-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)

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 btrfs wiki http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org for
further details.

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