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 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)

       -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)

6.16.1			      September 10, 2025	      BTRFS-RESTORE(8)