Btrfs is a new copy on write filesystem for Linux aimed at implementing advanced features while focusing on fault tolerance, repair and easy administration. Initially developed by Oracle, Btrfs is licensed under the GPL and open for contribution from anyone.
22
votes
2answers
7k views
What is the current situation with BtrFS and 11.10?
It feels like I've read about BtrFS forever, but there has always been something that makes me not want to use it. But I'm guessing things are improving, so I'd like to know what the situation is ...
15
votes
2answers
9k views
Message “Sparse file not allowed” after installing on a btrfs filesystem
I've installed Ubuntu without creating a swap partition and with / on a btrfs.# Now I get the message "Sparse file is not allowed" on each boot. This message appears before the splash-screen. Is there ...
13
votes
5answers
2k views
Is Btrfs in 10.10 considered stable?
I'm upgrading my laptop to Maverick (10.10) and I noticed btrfs is an option for the filesystem. I read a while ago that the Ubuntu team weren't sure if it was going to be stable for Maverick. Does ...
10
votes
3answers
7k views
Should I use btrfs or Ext4 for my SSD?
Should I use btrfs (with discard, compress=lzo and space_cache options) or Ext4 (with discard option) for the SSD for my Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric) amd64 desktop root partition of my office machine?
...
10
votes
2answers
2k views
btrfs partition won't mount after upgrading 64bit Ubuntu 11.10 laptop
I have tried many ideas from the net, but none of them work.
This looks correct and in good order
**sudo btrfs filesystem show /dev/sda2**
failed to read /dev/sr0
Label: none uuid: ...
9
votes
5answers
7k views
Is it safe to use Btrfs?
Is it safe to use btrfs in Ubuntu 12.04?
Linux kernel version: 3.2.0-24-generic
Architecture: x86_64 (64-bit)
8
votes
4answers
3k views
Will btrfs automatically compress existing files when compression is enabled?
I chose btrfs as the format of my / filesystem in the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS installer. After the installation completed, I added compress=lzo to the mount options in /etc/fstab and rebooted.
Will the ...
8
votes
1answer
2k views
btrfs snapshot management
1) Is there a gui or curses tool that allows you to view/manage btrfs subvols/snapshots?
2) Is there a utility or already made script that would automatically create and delete snapshots ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
How to make a btrfs snapshot?
My /home partition consists of an entire physical disk. It is formatted as btrfs. I want to snapshot it. I'm confused regarding subvolume naming, in particular.
I am aware that there are similar ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
How can I convert an ext4 partition to btrfs (or other file systems) without losing data?
I wish to convert my current /home partition to BTRFS (or other file systems) without losing data if possible, what steps should I take for this? is it safe?
6
votes
3answers
1k views
What is btrfs? What advanced features does it have?
I heard that Kernel 2.6.35 will have btrfs and that Ubuntu 10.10 could have btrfs by default.
What will be its features?
Will I be able to migrate my data from my current ext4 partition?
6
votes
8answers
6k views
Trick installer to use btrfs root with compression
I want to install Maverick onto a BTRFS root partition. Not for fun or testing, but because I need compression due to a small flash disk (4GB).
Now the 10.10 installer finally supports btrfs, but ...
6
votes
2answers
5k views
How can I safely resize (shrink) a BTRFS partition?
I have my /home on a BTRFS partition and I need to shrink it, unfortunately Gparted does not have the resize option for this FS. Can I resize it in any other way without losing my data?
6
votes
1answer
9k views
Can 12.04 be installed using Btrfs only?
In the past it was not possible to install Ubuntu on a pure Btrfs file system (/ btrfs + swap), will it be possible for 12.04?
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Btrfs subvolumes vs folders?
I've read a fair bit about btrfs's subvolumes feature. While it would seem interesting to have subvolumes for the main categories in a data filesystem, such as @films, @pictures, @music... What ...
5
votes
4answers
1k views
btrfs - Unknown filesystem?
Today when I went ahead with Natty installation I had selected btrfs for root filesystem. To my utter surprise I was presented with the screen
Unknown filesystem
grub rescue >
None of the ...
5
votes
1answer
753 views
How to layout the filesystem for a small SSD and a big HDD?
Since I don't use my laptop's CD-drive I want to put a small (8 GB) SSD into the CD-drive slot (I'll use a caddy similar to this one). I want to use compressed btrfs on the SSD and put all the data on ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
How does apt-btrfs-snapshot work?
I read on the planet that apt-btrfs-snapshot would be available for Natty. The brief description of what it does sounds very nice:
it will automatically create filesystem snapshot (of everything ...
5
votes
1answer
741 views
Is there another way for me to backup /home/user other than creating a subvolume?
I think I'm having difficulty fully understanding subvolumes and snapshots.
The /home partition is btrfs. I want to create a "backup" snapshot of /home/user (for example) but user has existed for ...
5
votes
1answer
518 views
How to stop disks from being automagically mounted on boot?
I have a btrfs filesystem RAIDed across several disks. The machine is connected via USB to an external hard-drive bay where three disks live.
In my fstab I have a mount entry for one of the disks ...
4
votes
1answer
2k views
What is the best way to partition, and what is the best file-system for a new Hard Disk? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What's your recommendation on drive partitioning schemes for a desktop and home server?
Is Btrfs in Maverick considered stable?
Bonus: What is the "best" filesystem ...
4
votes
2answers
539 views
Is it safe to remount btrfs with compression?
I've finally found how to enable compression in btrfs, and would like to do so. However, as my main drive, I'm not really wanting to risk a change that could corrupt the hard drive.
Everything I've ...
4
votes
1answer
236 views
ext4 to btrfs conversion: how long can it take? space requirements?
I started btrfs-convert for my ext4 partitioned hdd. I did a fsck first which was fine.
So since it is running over 4 hours now (1.) I wonder if it will ever finish ?
I read multiple articles ...
4
votes
1answer
192 views
How to hide btrfs devices in nautilus?
I've got a btrfs file system consisting of 3 devices and using raid1. The file system contains one subvolume "home" which is defined in the fstab and mounted at "/home". fstab entry looks like this:
...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I upgrade to a newer version of btrfs-tools?
The btrfs tools package in 12.04 appears outdated and doesn't take advantage of the newer features such as scrub introduced in kernel v 3.0. How can I upgrade to a newer version? Do I need to compile ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How does btrfs RAID work in degraded mode?
My idea was that (using loopback devices) it works like this
Create the raid array sudo mkfs.btrfs -m raid1 -d raid1 /dev/loop1 /dev/loop2
You mount them sudo mount /dev/loop1 /mnt and mark them ...
3
votes
2answers
5k views
How can I convert my root partition from BTRFS to EXT4?
Is it possible to convert btrfs to ext4 without losing data? I'm experiencing a very low speed on read/write operations on btrfs.
3
votes
3answers
593 views
btrfs with multi devices fails automount in fstab
I'm trying to automount btrfs on 12.04-desktop-amd64.
During bootsplash, fstab failed to mount btrfs and asked skip or manually prepare.
On the rootshell, btrfs device scan and mount -a could ...
3
votes
1answer
712 views
How do I recover a BTRFS partition formatted by mkfs.btrfs?
I've accidentally formatted one of my partitions with btrfs 0.19 filesystem, on 11.04, kernel 2.6.38-8-generic.
The command issued was:
mkfs.btrfs -L EADS-old /dev/sdd2.
After this I didn't write ...
3
votes
1answer
73 views
Is there anything to remember when I exchange my /?
I have a laptop computer with the following setup:
/ on a btrfs /dev/sda3 subvolume @
/home on a btrfs /dev/sda3 subvolume @home
/boot on an ext4 /dev/sda2
/boot/efi on a vfat /dev/sda1
no swap
/tmp ...
3
votes
1answer
618 views
Block-level deduplicating filesystem
I'm looking for a deduplicating copy-on-write filesystem solution for general user data such as /home and backups of it. It should use online/inline/synchronous deduplication at the block-level using ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
How to install using btrfs in RAID10 mode?
As a test I want to install Ubuntu 11.10 onto a btrfs file system in raid10 mode.
However, I have no clue on how I should go about that.
I have tried the installer, and then creating the fs in the ...
2
votes
2answers
357 views
Home server filesystem
I'm planing to build a home server to act mainly as a uTorrent download and file server for me and the people I live with. I have come up with the following filesystem configuration and I would like ...
2
votes
2answers
3k views
Btrfs Defragmentation Of Files/Folders
I have just installed Ubuntu 11.10 on the Btrfs filesystem and I want to ask a question about defragmentation of files.
Do I really need to defragment files or the whole system?
Defragment # btrfs ...
2
votes
2answers
3k views
How to format btrfs partition?
How to format spare disk space to btrfs filesystem? I can't see btrfs in format dialog neither in gparted, nor in Disk Utility. Only Fat,ext2,ext3,ext4 etc.
2
votes
1answer
487 views
How to use Btrfs with compression on external USB hard drive?
I would like to make use of Btrfs' transparent compression on an external drive.
Which tool is best for formatting the drive? Disk Utility or GParted?
How do I activate the compression? During ...
2
votes
2answers
644 views
How do I install the btrfs-restore utility on 12.04?
I would like to install btrfs-restore on Kubuntu 12.04
apt-cache search btrfs-restore returns nothing.
Google "ubuntu download OR install btrfs-restore" returns nothing useful.
Also, where do I get ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
Converting to btrfs from md raid5 with lvm
I have decided to start the transition to btrfs this weekend. I have a desktop with one md raid1 which is used for boot, and one large md raid5 for everything else. On top of the md raid5, I have LVM ...
2
votes
2answers
282 views
How to remove subvol from partition?
I installed Natty 64-bit with btrfs filesystem only to find that it takes almost two minutes to boot. I tried a few different things, and finally today opened up /etc/fstab only to find the ...
2
votes
1answer
673 views
Does btrfs support thin provisioning and quota management like zfs?
I checked the btrfs command and didn't find anything related to thiese features.
2
votes
0answers
823 views
Grub fails to install - core.img 'unusually large'
When trying to resurrect my (t)rusty 'ol router who's system disk (CF card) had failed (probably because I neglected to tune Ubuntu properly for this type of media), I wanted to use the opportunity to ...
2
votes
1answer
557 views
btrfs and missing free space
I converted my ext4 partition to btrfs and deleted the save subvolume after doing so. Then I enabled the compression (lzo) of the filessystem in the fstab file and everything is correct so far.
Then ...
1
vote
2answers
533 views
Possible/viable to make a btrfs RAID between SSD and HDD?
Since I don't use my laptop's CD-drive I want to put a small (8 GB) SSD into the CD-drive slot (I'll use a caddy similar to this one). I want to use compressed btrfs on the SSD and put all the data on ...
1
vote
2answers
844 views
How do I recover a BTRFS partition that will not mount?
The installation for 12.04 kept failing, and the solution was to have the installer ignore the btrfs partition that I have previously been using for /home.
Now that it's installed, I've been trying ...
1
vote
2answers
172 views
Upgrade from 10.04 to 11.04, must maintain minimum kernel 2.6.38
I have a machine running 10.04 and am using BTRFS with lzo compression. I upgraded the kernel to 2.6.38 to enable this (using a PPA). I have my /home folder on a separate (4 TB) BTRFS drive. / is on ...
1
vote
3answers
914 views
Using btrfs in RAID arrays and partitioning
Probably stupid questions but here goes:
Can btrfs use only a portion of a HDD in a raid "array"?
I have 3 HDDs: 80GB, 160GB, and 200GB external USB. I want to put root+boot in the first 20GB of the ...
1
vote
1answer
122 views
Cannot use 'btrfs balance' to convert to raid1
I'm trying to convert a 2 drive btrfs array on Ubuntu 12.04 to use RAID1. Following the instructions on the btrfs wiki I've tried this command, with no success:
valorin@gimli:~$ sudo btrfs filesystem ...
1
vote
1answer
155 views
How do I show the current amount of fragmentation on a btrfs filesystem
Wiki pages for btrfs and other how-tos talk about online defragmentation and other related topics but they don't say how to find out how fragmented a file system is. Is there a method to determine how ...
1
vote
1answer
429 views
How does one undelete or repair BTRFS partitions?
Had a power‐cut last week and thought nothing of it but today when I opened (mounted) a data partition for archiving edited video files, I noticed it had 50GB free when it previously had only 2…
...
1
vote
1answer
526 views
Install Ubuntu with BTRFS and more subvolumes
I want to install an Ubuntu Server with a BTRFS filesystem (in a RAID1 way).
The problem is that I can't see the option in the installer to make more subvolumes. The installer creates two by default: ...
