Getting started with btrfs

November 30, 2013 5.3k views
dev204679
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dev204679
I would like to try using btrfs so that I can easily snapshot my application data before rolling out new versions. I don't need my whole filesystem to be btrfs (as nice as that might be), one mount point (say, /data) would be fine. Are there any guides for how to repartition disks in the context of Digital Ocean?
1 comment
  • ower86 December 12, 2014

    u can convert fs from recovery mode.

    0 ur root fs should be ext4

    1. install btrfs-tools
    2. reboot to recovery mode
    3. mount ur disk and cp btrfs-convert to /
    4. umount disk
    5. btrfs-convert
    6. mount disk & chroot & edit fstab
    7. boot into default kernel

    now u have btrfs as root fs

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2 Answers
kamaln7 MOD December 1, 2013
Unfortunately we do not support partitioning yet.
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ieugen August 7, 2015

One solution would be to use btrfs with a loop device. Your data will be stored in a btrfs image file.

Note: I recommend you use a recent kernel version (4+). I use BTRFS on my personal system and things are mostly ok, some performance issues when databases/indexing happens. I’ve read that Facebook is preparing to roll it in production systems. The future is bright :)

Some notes:
https://meta.discourse.org/t/rough-notes-getting-btrfs-working-on-digital-ocean/20246
http://www.funtoo.org/BTRFS_Fun

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