Hi guys,

 

I have two read-only snapshots which I need to delete. Also, somehow an old TimeMachine share founds its way to /mnt/TimeMachine. I need to delete all three items. 

 

As far as I know, the only way to delete a read only item is to make it writable, and then delete it. The only way I know how to do such is by executing the following command: btrfs property set -ts /path/to/snapshot ro false

 

However, I have executed the command as Root, and when I execute the command to delete the snapshot, the following is returned: rm: cannot remove '/path/to/snapshot' : read-only file system. 

 

What other methods may I utilize to delete these two snapshots? My assumption is I should be able to utilize the same command to  delete /mnt/TimeMachine.

 

Help is much appreciated. Thank you.

50 minutes ago, Dr. Ew said:

/mnt/TimeMachine

Don't think that's the correct path, as thats in RAM, and a simple reboot would remove it.

 

Assuming that the path is /mnt/user/... and you're getting read-only file system, are you sure the file system on the disk(s) aren't mounted read-only?  I don't use BTRFS, but doesn't a simple chmod work?

3 hours ago, Squid said:

Don't think that's the correct path, as thats in RAM, and a simple reboot would remove it.

 

Assuming that the path is /mnt/user/... and you're getting read-only file system, are you sure the file system on the disk(s) aren't mounted read-only?  I don't use BTRFS, but doesn't a simple chmod work?

Thank you. That was my mistake on stating /mnt/TimeMachine. It was /mnt/user/TimeMachine. I couldn't delete it in place, but I was able to move the folder to /mnt/disks/cache, and delete it there. 

 

As far as the BTRFS snapshots go, I created the snapshot as readonly (as root). chmod doesn't work for the readonly snapshot, unfortunately. 

3 hours ago, Dr. Ew said:

Thank you. That was my mistake on stating /mnt/TimeMachine. It was /mnt/user/TimeMachine. I couldn't delete it in place, but I was able to move the folder to /mnt/disks/cache, and delete it there. 

 

As far as the BTRFS snapshots go, I created the snapshot as readonly (as root). chmod doesn't work for the readonly snapshot, unfortunately. 

 

are you using the cmd: btrfs subvol delete  /mnt/user/TimeMachine/xxx ?

On 12/31/2019 at 11:57 PM, trott said:

 

are you using the cmd: btrfs subvol delete  /mnt/user/TimeMachine/xxx ?

Thank you. That worked for TimeMachine. I've still got the read. only snapshots I can't delete, though. I tried that with the Btrfs sub delete command, and still am unable.

4 hours ago, Dr. Ew said:

I can't delete, though. I tried that with the Btrfs sub delete command, and still am unable.

That's the correct command to delete btrfs snapshots, post a list of current snapshots:

 

btrfs sub list /path

 

17 hours ago, johnnie.black said:

That's the correct command to delete btrfs snapshots, post a list of current snapshots:

 

btrfs sub list /path

There are very many of them. But here is an excerpt which includes the three I am trying to get rid of (highlighted)

 

root@nAR1:~# btrfs sub list /mnt/cache
ID 395 gen 243944 top level 5 path loops.samples
ID 397 gen 234007 top level 5 path mixes
ID 399 gen 167630 top level 5 path domains
ID 400 gen 232037 top level 5 path media
ID 402 gen 243868 top level 5 path gDrive
ID 645 gen 167635 top level 397 path gDrive/Snaps/gDrive.11.28.2019
ID 646 gen 167640 top level 395 path loops.samples/snaps/loops.samples.12.21.2019
ID 647 gen 167684 top level 400 path media/snaps/media.12.28.2019
ID 775 gen 232626 top level 5 path media

root@nAR1:~# btrfs sub list /mnt/disk1
ID 3100 gen 6598 top level 5 path Backup
ID 5384 gen 6429 top level 3100 path backup/snaps/rosnap2del
ID 5386 gen 6599 top level 5 path archive
ID 5387 gen 6442 top level 5386 path archive/pre.2020.archive/snaps/nARarchive.12.28.2019

root@nAR1:~# btrfs sub list /mnt/disk2
ID 3470 gen 3720 top level 5 path rosnap1
ID 3471 gen 3239 top level 3470 path rosnap1/snaps/rosnap1del
ID 3472 gen 3796 top level 5 path archive
ID 3473 gen 3245 top level 3472 path archive/pre.2020.archive/snaps/rosnap3del
ID 3474 gen 3806 top level 5 path Backup

 

I was able to delete rosnap1del and rosnap3del. I had to make the entire path writable (/mnt/disk1/backup/snaps/rosnap2del).

 

However, on the rosnap2, i try to make it writable, just like the others (/mnt/disk1/backup/snaps/rosnap2del), and it tells me it is not a BTRFS file system. Very strange. 

Edited January 9, 20206 yr by Dr. Ew

Ah, I got the last one.  I had to go deeper down to make a snapshot writable. It was a snapshot of a directory that included a snapshot of a directory of a snapshot of a directory, haha. Once I made the offending directory writable, I was able to delete.

 

i also forgot that the Subvolume location is /mnt/disk2/rosnapdel2 and not at /mnt/user/rosnapdel2.

 

thanks for the help, tips, and guidance