Arch Linux

sswybd

Member

Registered: 2023-06-07

Posts: 13

[STICKY]cant del timeshift snapshots in btrfs and can't find subvolume

                   can't delete timeshift snapshots in btrfs and can't find subvolume to manually delete it
I had the same problem with https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=266965 and I tried both the poster's and the last person's methods (they're only slightly different) but they simply didn't work.
For example:

sh% sudo btrfs subvolume list /                                                                                             
[sudo] password for sswybd: 
ID 256 gen 4959 top level 5 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@
ID 258 gen 14 top level 256 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@/var/lib/portables
ID 259 gen 15 top level 256 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@/var/lib/machines
ID 351 gen 5116 top level 5 path @home
ID 352 gen 5116 top level 5 path @

and when I:

sudo timeshift --delete --snapshot '2023-05-04_13-30-10' 

it shows:

Mounted '/dev/nvme0n1p7' at '/run/timeshift/6377/backup'
btrfs: Quotas are not enabled
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removing snapshot: 2023-05-04_13-30-10
Deleting subvolume: @ (Id:256)
E: ERROR: Could not destroy subvolume/snapshot: Directory not empty

E: Failed to delete snapshot subvolume: '/run/timeshift/6377/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@'
E: Failed to remove snapshot: 2023-05-04_13-30-10

Then I tried that post's last person's method and use the path: "/run/timeshift/6377/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@", i.e:

 sudo btrfs subvolume delete /run/timeshift/6377/backup/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@

it shows: ERROR: Could not statfs: No such file or directory
I then tried the four-digit number 4959 and no work. I retried "sudo timeshift --delete --snapshot '2023-05-04_13-30-10' " and it shows a different 4-digit number which is growing randomly and can't be predicted. I tried use "cd" and "ls" to find the path but in "/run/timeshift/" there simply isn't any folder or nothing. So how can I delete this subvolume?

Last edited by sswybd (2023-07-19 21:42:03)

ua4000

Member

Registered: 2015-10-14

Posts: 422

Re: [STICKY]cant del timeshift snapshots in btrfs and can't find subvolume

recheck the output of

sudo btrfs subvolume list /                                                                                             

a line with

ID 256 gen 4959 top level 5 path timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@

can be deleted with prefixed "/" (which was the base in your 1st command)

sudo btrfs subvolume delete '/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@'

It may be necessary to recursively delete the child subvolumes first.

sswybd

Member

Registered: 2023-06-07

Posts: 13

Re: [STICKY]cant del timeshift snapshots in btrfs and can't find subvolume

sudo btrfs subvolume delete '/timeshift-btrfs/snapshots/2023-05-04_13-30-10/@'

It still doesn;t workout because it cannot find this file or directory. The main point is the four-digit number as described above and the number is constantly changing and I can;t find the right path at all. In GUI I also can't locate the position of the subvolume.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,808

Re: [STICKY]cant del timeshift snapshots in btrfs and can't find subvolume

Um, this really is not "sticky".  Only a moderator can do that, and this does not rise to the criteria

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ua4000

Member

Registered: 2015-10-14

Posts: 422

Re: [STICKY]cant del timeshift snapshots in btrfs and can't find subvolume

run

sudo btrfs subvolume list /                                                                                             

and then the delete command from my posting #2  directly afterwards, you have to adjust the name according to the output of your 1st  command of course, do not copy simply mine.
Also I checked: you have to delete the subvolume first!

Post all commands and outputs here, with a "It still doesn;t workout" answer we can't help you :-)

just4arch

Member

Registered: 2023-01-07

Posts: 85

Re: [STICKY]cant del timeshift snapshots in btrfs and can't find subvolume

You can also delete them by id (from the list).

btrfs subvolume delete [options] -i|--subvolid <subvolid> <path>

To be sure, I'd mount the root volume somewhere and use this as *path*.
And start from the deepest nesting level.