tldr/pages/linux/btrfs-send.md

btrfs send

Transfer data (subvolume/snapshot) from one filesystem to another in a streamable format. Note: send requires the snapshot be read-only. See also: btrfs-subvolume, btrfs-property. More information: https://btrfs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Send-receive.html.

• Send a subvolume snapshot to a file instead of stdout:

sudo btrfs send -f {{path/to/file.btrfs}} {{path/to/source_snapshot}}

• Restore a subvolume snapshot from a file instead of stdin:

sudo btrfs receive -f {{path/to/file.btrfs}} {{path/to/destination_directory}}

• Send a subvolume snapshot stream and pipe it to a receiving destination:

sudo btrfs send {{path/to/source_snapshot}} | sudo btrfs receive {{path/to/destination_directory}}

• Send an incremental update (differences between parent and new snapshot) to a file:

sudo btrfs send -p {{path/to/parent_snapshot}} -f {{path/to/incremental.btrfs}} {{path/to/new_snapshot}}

• Send an incremental update stream and pipe it to a receiving destination:

sudo btrfs send -p {{path/to/parent_snapshot}} {{path/to/new_snapshot}} | sudo btrfs receive {{path/to/destination_directory}}

• Send a subvolume snapshot over SSH (the receiving sudo must be configured for passwordless execution):

sudo btrfs send {{path/to/source_snapshot}} | ssh {{user}}@{{host}} "sudo btrfs receive {{path/to/destination_directory}}"

• Dump stream metadata from a file without modifying the filesystem:

sudo btrfs receive --dump -f {{path/to/file.btrfs}}