btrfs-subvolume

Manage btrfs subvolumes and snapshots

TLDR

Create subvolume

$ sudo btrfs subvolume create path/to/new_subvolume

List subvolumes

$ sudo btrfs subvolume list path/to/filesystem

Delete subvolume

$ sudo btrfs subvolume delete path/to/subvolume

Create read-only snapshot

$ sudo btrfs subvolume snapshot -r path/to/source path/to/target

Create read-write snapshot

$ sudo btrfs subvolume snapshot path/to/source path/to/target

Show subvolume details

$ sudo btrfs subvolume show path/to/subvolume

SYNOPSIS

btrfs subvolume command [OPTIONS] [path]

btrfs subvolume manages btrfs subvolumes and snapshots. Subvolumes are separately mountable filesystem trees that can have independent snapshot and quota policies. Snapshots are point-in-time copies that initially share all data with their source.

PARAMETERS

create

Create a new empty subvolume

list

List all subvolumes in the filesystem

delete

Delete a subvolume or snapshot

snapshot

Create a snapshot of an existing subvolume

show

Display detailed information about a subvolume

-r, --readonly

Create a read-only snapshot

get-default

Get the default subvolume

set-default

Set the default subvolume

INSTALL

sudo apt install btrfs-progs

sudo dnf install btrfs-progs

sudo pacman -S btrfs-progs

sudo apk add btrfs-progs

brew install btrfs-progs

nix profile install nixpkgs#btrfs-progs

CAVEATS

Deleting a subvolume does not immediately free space; asynchronous cleanup runs in the background. Snapshots are not recursive - nested subvolumes must be snapshotted separately.