BTRFS-IMAGE(8)			     BTRFS			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.  Not
	      recommended as this would introduce new file name hash
	      mismatches, thus if your problem involves subvolume tress, it
	      can even mask existing problems.	Furthermore kernels can not do
	      proper path resolution due to the introduced hash mismatches.

	      One -s means just generate random garbage, which means that the
	      directory hash won't match its file names.  Using two -s will
	      calculate a collision for the file name 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.

       -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.

       --version
	      Print the btrfs-image version, builtin features and exit.

EXIT STATUS
       btrfs-image will return 0 if no error happened.	If any problems
       happened, 1 will be returned.

SEE ALSO
       mkfs.btrfs(8)

6.16.1			      September 10, 2025		BTRFS-IMAGE(8)