BTRFS Recover scripts

Scripts to help you recover the latest files you have lost in a BTRFS volume

Step 1: Unmounting your BTRFS volume

1. Download the unmount script

   wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qdm12/btrfs-recover-scripts/master/unmount.sh

2. Change the variable DISK_TO_RECOVER to your BTRFS volume name (say /dev/mapper/cachedev_0) in unmount.sh:

   sed -i 's/^DISK_TO_RECOVER=*$/DISK_TO_RECOVER=/dev/mapper/cachedev_0' unmount.sh

3. Make the script executable and run it:

   sudo chmod 700 unmount.sh
   sudo ./unmount.sh

4. Verify your drive is not present anymore with df -H

Step 2: Restore the drive

1. Download the restore script

   wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qdm12/btrfs-recover-scripts/master/restore.sh

2. Change the variables in restore.sh

   • DISK_TO_RECOVER is the path to the unmounted BTRFS volume to recover (say /dev/mapper/cachedev_0)
   • RESTORE_PATH is the path to which the restored data from the disk will be written (say /volumeUSB1/usbshare)
   • RECENT_FILEPATH is a full or partial path or path+filename or filename of a recent file you want to recover, to act as a time reference (say /data/homes/myhome/recentfile.txt)

   sed -i 's/^DISK_TO_RECOVER=.*$/DISK_TO_RECOVER=\/dev\/mapper\/cachedev_0' restore.sh
   sed -i 's/^RESTORE_PATH=.*$/RESTORE_PATH=\/volumeUSB1\/usbshare' restore.sh
   sed -i 's/^RECENT_FILEPATH=.*$/RECENT_FILEPATH=\/data\/homes\/myhome\/recentfile.txt' restore.sh

3. Make the script executable and run it:

   sudo chmod 700 restore.sh
   sudo ./restore.sh

Optional step 3: Limit recovery drive usage

If your drive is not large enough to recover the necessary data from the BTRFS volume, this is for you.

1. Open another shell

2. Download the limit-restore script

   wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qdm12/btrfs-recover-scripts/master/limit-restore.sh

3. Change the variables in limit-restore.sh

   • DISK_TO_RECOVER is the path to the unmounted BTRFS volume to recover (say /dev/mapper/cachedev_0)
   • RESTORE_PATH is the path to which the restored data from the disk will be written (say /volumeUSB1/usbshare)

   sed -i 's/^DISK_TO_RECOVER=.*$/DISK_TO_RECOVER=\/dev\/mapper\/cachedev_0' restore.sh
   sed -i 's/^RESTORE_PATH=.*$/RESTORE_PATH=\/volumeUSB1\/usbshare' restore.sh

4. Make the script executable and run it:

   sudo chmod 700 limit-restore.sh
   sudo ./limit-restore.sh

This will automatically pause the restore process when your restore drive is 90% full.