Btrfs Cheat Sheet 📄

Welcome to the Btrfs Cheat Sheet! This guide is designed to provide you with quick access to the most common Btrfs commands and best practices. Btrfs (B-tree file system) is powerful and versatile, perfect for managing modern storage architectures. 🚀

Table of Contents 🗂

• Creating Subvolumes
• Snapshots
• Restoring Snapshots
• Balancing
• Checking and Repairing
• Usage and Quotas
• Defragmentation
• Miscellaneous Commands

Creating Subvolumes 🛠

Subvolumes are like dynamically resizable partitions of the filesystem.

• Create a subvolume:

  sudo btrfs subvolume create /path/to/new_subvolume
  

• List all subvolumes:

  sudo btrfs subvolume list /
  

Snapshots 📸

Snapshots are read-only copies of subvolumes at a particular point in time.

• Create a snapshot:

  sudo btrfs subvolume snapshot /path/to/subvolume /path/to/snapshot
  

• Delete a snapshot:

  sudo btrfs subvolume delete /path/to/snapshot
  

Restoring Snapshots ⏳

You can revert to any previous state captured by a snapshot.

• Revert changes using a snapshot:

  sudo snapper -c root undochange snapshot_number..current
  

Balancing 🔄

Balancing helps to optimize the distribution of data across the filesystem.

• Start a balance operation:

  sudo btrfs balance start /
  

Checking and Repairing 🛠🩹

Ensure the integrity of your filesystem with these commands.

• Check the filesystem (without making changes):

  sudo btrfs check /dev/deviceName
  

• Repair the filesystem:

  sudo btrfs check --repair /dev/deviceName
  

Usage and Quotas 💾

Manage disk space effectively with quotas and usage insights.

• Show disk usage:

  sudo btrfs filesystem df /
  

• Enable quotas:

  sudo btrfs quota enable /
  

Defragmentation 🧹

Improves performance by organizing data more efficiently (not recommended for SSDs).

• Defragment a directory:

  sudo btrfs filesystem defragment /path/to/directory
  

Miscellaneous Commands 🧰

Some additional commands that are useful for day-to-day management.

• Show filesystem information:

  sudo btrfs filesystem show
  

• Resize a subvolume:

  sudo btrfs filesystem resize max /path/to/subvolume
  

Thank you for using this Btrfs Cheat Sheet! Remember to back up your data regularly and test any major changes in a safe environment. 🌟