The btrfs restore command is a command-line utility in Linux that is used to restore files or directories from a btrfs snapshot. A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a file system, and btrfs supports the creation of snapshots that allow you to take a snapshot of a file system at any point in time and then restore it later if needed.
btrfs restore is a utility that is included in the btrfs-progs package, which is a collection of tools and libraries for managing btrfs file systems. To use btrfs restore, you will need to have the btrfs-progs package installed on your Linux system. btrfs-progs is usually available as a package in the repositories of popular Linux distributions, and you can install it using the package manager for your specific distribution.
To use btrfs restore, you will need to have a btrfs snapshot that you want to restore. You can create a btrfs snapshot using the btrfs subvolume snapshot command. Once you have a snapshot, you can use the btrfs restore command to restore the snapshot.
For more information on using btrfs restore, you can consult the btrfs-progs documentation or use the btrfs restore –help command to view a list of available options and usage examples.
btrfs restore Command Examples
1. Restore all files from a btrfs filesystem to a given directory:
# btrfs restore /path/to/btrfs_device /path/to/target_directory
2. List (don’t write) files to be restored from a btrfs filesystem:
# btrfs restore --dry-run /path/to/btrfs_device /path/to/target_directory
3. Restore files matching a given regex ([c]ase-insensitive) files to be restored from a btrfs filesystem (all parent directories of target file(s) must match as well):
# btrfs restore --path-regex regex -c /path/to/btrfs_device /path/to/target_directory
4. Restore files from a btrfs filesystem using a specific root tree bytenr (see btrfs- find-root):
# btrfs restore -t bytenr /path/to/btrfs_device /path/to/target_directory
5. Restore files from a btrfs filesystem (along with metadata, extended attributes, and Symlinks), overwriting files in the target:
# btrfs restore --metadata --xattr --symlinks --overwrite /path/to/btrfs_device /path/to/target_directory