BTRFS-CONVERT(8)BTRFS-CONVERT(8)NAMEbtrfs-convert - convert ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem image to btrfs in-
place
SYNOPSISbtrfs-convert [-dinL] [-r] [-l LABEL] device
DESCRIPTIONbtrfs-convert is used to convert a ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem image to a
btrfs one. This is performed on an unmounted image. The conversion is
done in-place and it's possible to do a rollback to original fs. The
original filesystem image is accessible as a subvolume named ext2_sub‐
vol.
The success of the operation depends on amount of free space in the
original filesystem, as btrfs uses this space to store it's own meta‐
data and just adds pointers to the data blocks.
Duration of the operation depends on fragmentation and allocated space
on the orignal filesystem, it may take seveal hours for a terabyte-
sized filesystem.
If the operation does not finish succesfully, the image is recognized
as the original fileystem.
OPTIONS-d Disable data checksumming. This may speed up the convert opera‐
tion.
-i Do not convert ACLs.
-n Disable packing of small files.
-l LABEL
Set the label of btrfs filesystem to LABEL.
-L Copy label from the original filesystem to btrfs.
-r Try rollback to the original filesystem. Beware that this may
not always succeed if the btrfs filesystem has been changed in a
way that prevents this.
CAVEATS
The resulting filesystem will inherit the fragmentation and it's possi‐
ble to run whole filesystem defragmentation and then balance.
The raid profile of both data and metada will be single, this is not
the same as default mkfs will create. Use balance with convert filter
to change raid profile you want.
Security labels or quotas are not transferred to the new filesystem.
Block sizes must be at least of btrfs supported size (currently 4KB on
x86_64).
AVAILABILITYbtrfs-convert is part of btrfs-progs.
SEE ALSOmkfs.btrfs(8)BTRFS-CONVERT(8)