First of all, timeshift pays off especially on BTRFS. At least that's how I use it. And second, in RSYNC mode, snapshots are created using rsync and hard links. Common files are shared between snapshots, which saves disk space. So it's by no means "just a stupid copy".
You are right. I oversimplified this in the video on purpose because it wasn't my focus for this one. But instead to btrfs in the first rsync snapshot every file really gets "stupidly copied". That's just what I said in the video. Nothing more. But thank you very much for your feedback, I will try to highlight such facts more precisely in the future. (And about btrfs: The main focus in this video is for the casual Linux Mint user, but it seems that instead many experienced users with (allegedly) arch based distros are watching this video. So a very warm welcome to all of you :) )
Timeshift is great! I wouldn't run a Linux machine without it. TimeShift has saved me more than once. Used properly it only backs up system files that have changed, so once you create the first image every image after that is only the changes to the system itself that have been made. I use a different app that runs daily to backup my date to a completely different drive. Timeshift should come installed by default on every Linux system IMO.
In fact Timeshift has a good idea and it helps if your system breaks after e.g. an update. For Arch based systems and with btrfs it's nearly a perfect match. But my focus in this video was more for the casual Linux Mint User e.g.. And we experienced many users using Timeshift for scenarios for it isn't built for. And we had also too many users using Timeshift with rsync (which is the default for Debian based distros (ext4)) who got full harddrives and unloginable systems. So the video is more for the casual user instead for experienced Linux Pros. I try to highlight this more in our future content (if it's like this). Thanks for your feedback and enjoy using Timeshift :)
@@LinuxOrt I do Agree with both I'll Resume as this a- Experience (dragonball...) says Timeshiftt has saved him many times; it's Great b- Experience (LinuxOrt) says Timeshift won't work in case disk-partitions-users... change
Timeshift is modeled on Windows System Restore I think. As it has exactly the same features and it does the job. The problem is that it eats up a lot of space on your hard drive. I have found this also but then so does the Windows System Restore if you create too many restore points. Don't forget that both tools take an image of your whole system and back it up so that takes up a lot of space. The solution would be if we could create restore points on a DVD or USB drive or on a separate partition. But I don't think you can do that with Timeshift or System Restore.
The reason you're having space issues with Time Shift is that you're saving the backup files on your system hard drive. Bad idea! If your system hard drive crashes, your backups are gone too. Use a dedicated separate hard drive with plenty of space for your time shift backups!
It's saved my behind twice, when all other hope was lost. Timeshift it's a treasure. Timeshift should be storing it's files on an external NAS or USB backup disk. In my opinion.
@@LinuxOrt I use Borg for backups between servers, but for personal situations where the kacke ist am dampfen or I just need to roll back to an earlier version *without getting derailed or losing focus* then timeshift is just so simple it doesn't cause any panics or "shit, now I've got to look up what the damn command was because I haven't needed it for a year, and make sure I don't screw things up even more" trauma!
One area I can see Timeshift helping is for new Linux users who want to experiment with different desktop environments, but don't necessarily have the know-how to run virtual machines, or for people who wish to do something that always has some associated risk, such as installing NVIDIA Drivers should that be desired, since reversions in these cases get the user back to the system as it was with few changes to their configuration.
Hi Jean, Thanks for your Video I's help me to know why I couldn't restore my snapshot to LMint 21.3 after my 22 update went wrong and had to install it anew... And this even if I didn't change partitions-users...
it's like "system restore" if translated into "windows terminology," which also works the same, it can't do anything for major cases. it's only used for minor errors, such as registry errors, package/program/driver installation errors and the like, to then be restored to a previous "point in time." for major recovery that need large backups, entire partitions, or entire system, root or home partition, for example, then there are different tools needed and they are available too (same as windows back-up tools).
I used timeshift and when that one time came something happened and I needed to restore the system, the manuals and the restoring process seemed too much effort and convoluted that I just took the very brief amount of time to save my data and reinstalled the system. This to me was less effort than to find out how to properly restore the system. And that is a huge barrier as an average user... what does it help to tell you in the start up process to do system snapshots, when you are not given a simple way, easily possible for an average user, to actually restore the system.
I did restore the system on a new laptop, with different drivers, so basically, I copied the system with timeshift. Of course, I had to tinker a bit to make it work, so with some knowledge, it can be done.
I do a manual update before every kernel update. I once got my old system back on a new harddisk (after a lot of headscratching and fiddeling) after a hard disk failure. I delete old snapshots every time in order to keep 50gig free space for new spapshots
I never use time shift. I just clone my drive every so often. In Windows, my brother's wife restored back to a point of a different password. Everytime I used restore points I about always lost something.
I don't particularly care for the notion of using Timeshift on the same media as your system. Seems to me a very good thing to use on a separate piece of media. Personally I keep at least two separate Timeshift drives and two separate backup drives for my data along with a clone or two.
I have reversed broken updates 3 times very easily. Who doesn't have space anymore? When Windows needs 120GB for the first megabytes of updates 😛 I have a 1TB of internal SSD on my laptop and a 2TB for games and backups. Even my USB stick is 256GB... memory is not expensive nowadays.
Timeshift seems to have great potential to brick your system. I've tried it twice, and each time it made everything worse. I was using Arch Linux with archinstall, BTRFS both times. Clicked restore from snapshot, rebooted... and it must have messed up fstab or something. The system would not automatically mount the directories that it used to prior to the Timeshift. Besides, this tool hasn't been touched in 2 years or so IIRC
As with any piece of software, there are limitations to its use case. So it is with timeshift. If you are running a business with employees and/or partners on the same system, using timeshift may be questionable. For the typical single user linux machine, I don't see the issue except for limited disk space. In my case, I keep my linux installs small and I am the only user. I like to tinker and there have been instalnces where timeshift saved my bacon. I've run timeshift regularly on my systems for many years without the disk usage issue you describle. However, I live in the States and conditions elsewhere in the world can be radically different.
The damn timeshift thing creates a backup in /run/timeshit/backups directory which is fine. But - BUT!!! - everything you do applies to the backup version rather than the original directory structure which is confusing as hell! I uninstalled timeshift and it erased not only its own backup but the original directory structure. DAMN! It creates a backup on the OS drive which is useless at best - you your drive dies, here goes your backup! I would rather use git as a backup app!
Apology of Linux Ort I was very surprised to read so bad comments about the video so - nonetheless - watched it several times before writing this comment Please nobody get me wrong: I thank all comments made recognizing come from your personal experience and believe, even if I don't agree Also I run Timeshift daily to have at least snapshots for my last 2 days on my LinuxMint 22 Why don't agree? As the Video states openly it's the Experience Linux Ort has had with many clients (customers?) who - unfortunately - see how their Timeshift Snapshots are useless and trash If any of my Colleagues want to truly rebate that experience must talk frrom same state-of-things or - at least - explain why Linux-Ort is wrong saying and warning Timeshift's cons Besides I'd love to know what backup tools you handle in addition Thanks!
Experiences differ. Also if I compare the feedback of my german community to this video: The most of these people there agree with the video. Though the Like/Dislike ratio of this video is quite nomal, so I would say many of the viewers of this video also agree/ take to notice, but aren't writing any comments. So everything's fine. But yeah I was also wondered about some feedback for this video... Many comments look like they didn't get the point of the video I was trying to tell. In the future I'll try to make my points of the video more clear :)
You have no clue about how to use timeshift and how it works. right?.... make yourself and your "clients" a favor and learn how to use it with btrfs and maybe make a video about that....
First of all, timeshift pays off especially on BTRFS. At least that's how I use it. And second, in RSYNC mode, snapshots are created using rsync and hard links. Common files are shared between snapshots, which saves disk space. So it's by no means "just a stupid copy".
You are right. I oversimplified this in the video on purpose because it wasn't my focus for this one.
But instead to btrfs in the first rsync snapshot every file really gets "stupidly copied". That's just what I said in the video. Nothing more.
But thank you very much for your feedback, I will try to highlight such facts more precisely in the future.
(And about btrfs: The main focus in this video is for the casual Linux Mint user, but it seems that instead many experienced users with (allegedly) arch based distros are watching this video. So a very warm welcome to all of you :) )
Timeshift is great! I wouldn't run a Linux machine without it. TimeShift has saved me more than once. Used properly it only backs up system files that have changed, so once you create the first image every image after that is only the changes to the system itself that have been made. I use a different app that runs daily to backup my date to a completely different drive. Timeshift should come installed by default on every Linux system IMO.
In fact Timeshift has a good idea and it helps if your system breaks after e.g. an update. For Arch based systems and with btrfs it's nearly a perfect match.
But my focus in this video was more for the casual Linux Mint User e.g.. And we experienced many users using Timeshift for scenarios for it isn't built for. And we had also too many users using Timeshift with rsync (which is the default for Debian based distros (ext4)) who got full harddrives and unloginable systems.
So the video is more for the casual user instead for experienced Linux Pros.
I try to highlight this more in our future content (if it's like this).
Thanks for your feedback and enjoy using Timeshift :)
@@LinuxOrt I do Agree with both
I'll Resume as this
a- Experience (dragonball...) says Timeshiftt has saved him many times; it's Great
b- Experience (LinuxOrt) says Timeshift won't work in case disk-partitions-users... change
Timeshift is modeled on Windows System Restore I think. As it has exactly the same features and it does the job. The problem is that it eats up a lot of space on your hard drive. I have found this also but then so does the Windows System Restore if you create too many restore points. Don't forget that both tools take an image of your whole system and back it up so that takes up a lot of space. The solution would be if we could create restore points on a DVD or USB drive or on a separate partition. But I don't think you can do that with Timeshift or System Restore.
The reason you're having space issues with Time Shift is that you're saving the backup files on your system hard drive. Bad idea! If your system hard drive crashes, your backups are gone too.
Use a dedicated separate hard drive with plenty of space for your time shift backups!
Thanks for the information. Makes great sense. Will do.
I am not using timeshift anymore at all, but yes, many other casual users do it like this :)
It's saved my behind twice, when all other hope was lost. Timeshift it's a treasure. Timeshift should be storing it's files on an external NAS or USB backup disk. In my opinion.
For that I use borg via ssh.
Great workflow but a bit more complicated in handling :)
@@LinuxOrt I use Borg for backups between servers, but for personal situations where the kacke ist am dampfen or I just need to roll back to an earlier version *without getting derailed or losing focus* then timeshift is just so simple it doesn't cause any panics or "shit, now I've got to look up what the damn command was because I haven't needed it for a year, and make sure I don't screw things up even more" trauma!
One area I can see Timeshift helping is for new Linux users who want to experiment with different desktop environments, but don't necessarily have the know-how to run virtual machines, or for people who wish to do something that always has some associated risk, such as installing NVIDIA Drivers should that be desired, since reversions in these cases get the user back to the system as it was with few changes to their configuration.
Hi Jean,
Thanks for your Video
I's help me to know why I couldn't restore my snapshot to LMint 21.3 after my 22 update went wrong and had to install it anew...
And this even if I didn't change partitions-users...
it's like "system restore" if translated into "windows terminology," which also works the same, it can't do anything for major cases. it's only used for minor errors, such as registry errors, package/program/driver installation errors and the like, to then be restored to a previous "point in time."
for major recovery that need large backups, entire partitions, or entire system, root or home partition, for example, then there are different tools needed and they are available too (same as windows back-up tools).
I used timeshift and when that one time came something happened and I needed to restore the system, the manuals and the restoring process seemed too much effort and convoluted that I just took the very brief amount of time to save my data and reinstalled the system. This to me was less effort than to find out how to properly restore the system.
And that is a huge barrier as an average user... what does it help to tell you in the start up process to do system snapshots, when you are not given a simple way, easily possible for an average user, to actually restore the system.
I did restore the system on a new laptop, with different drivers, so basically, I copied the system with timeshift. Of course, I had to tinker a bit to make it work, so with some knowledge, it can be done.
I do a manual update before every kernel update. I once got my old system back on a new harddisk (after a lot of headscratching and fiddeling) after a hard disk failure. I delete old snapshots every time in order to keep 50gig free space for new spapshots
I never use time shift. I just clone my drive every so often. In Windows, my brother's wife restored back to a point of a different password. Everytime I used restore points I about always lost something.
Timeshift works well for me when the Linux OS is on a smaller SSD drive upgrade backing up to the original HDD used as a secondary.
I don't particularly care for the notion of using Timeshift on the same media as your system. Seems to me a very good thing to use on a separate piece of media. Personally I keep at least two separate Timeshift drives and two separate backup drives for my data along with a clone or two.
I wouldn't use timeshift for my personal data.
For that I use borg (or Pika-Backup which is using borg)
I have reversed broken updates 3 times very easily. Who doesn't have space anymore? When Windows needs 120GB for the first megabytes of updates 😛 I have a 1TB of internal SSD on my laptop and a 2TB for games and backups. Even my USB stick is 256GB... memory is not expensive nowadays.
Now here I am thinking of switching from Linux Mint to openSUSE and I find this channel with a German using Mint?
timeshift is not perfect but always nice to have. I use deepin os w timeshift and a old 1tb harddrive and use rsync with all files.
Timeshift seems to have great potential to brick your system. I've tried it twice, and each time it made everything worse. I was using Arch Linux with archinstall, BTRFS both times. Clicked restore from snapshot, rebooted... and it must have messed up fstab or something. The system would not automatically mount the directories that it used to prior to the Timeshift. Besides, this tool hasn't been touched in 2 years or so IIRC
who doesn't have a Tb drive?? I mean this is not 2014
As with any piece of software, there are limitations to its use case. So it is with timeshift. If you are running a business with employees and/or partners on the same system, using timeshift may be questionable. For the typical single user linux machine, I don't see the issue except for limited disk space. In my case, I keep my linux installs small and I am the only user. I like to tinker and there have been instalnces where timeshift saved my bacon.
I've run timeshift regularly on my systems for many years without the disk usage issue you describle. However, I live in the States and conditions elsewhere in the world can be radically different.
The damn timeshift thing creates a backup in /run/timeshit/backups directory which is fine. But - BUT!!! - everything you do applies to the backup version rather than the original directory structure which is confusing as hell! I uninstalled timeshift and it erased not only its own backup but the original directory structure. DAMN!
It creates a backup on the OS drive which is useless at best - you your drive dies, here goes your backup!
I would rather use git as a backup app!
I have no problem with Tim Shift personally
Apology of Linux Ort
I was very surprised to read so bad comments about the video so - nonetheless - watched it several times before writing this comment
Please nobody get me wrong: I thank all comments made recognizing come from your personal experience and believe, even if I don't agree
Also I run Timeshift daily to have at least snapshots for my last 2 days on my LinuxMint 22
Why don't agree?
As the Video states openly it's the Experience Linux Ort has had with many clients (customers?) who - unfortunately - see how their Timeshift Snapshots are useless and trash
If any of my Colleagues want to truly rebate that experience must talk frrom same state-of-things or - at least - explain why Linux-Ort is wrong saying and warning Timeshift's cons
Besides I'd love to know what backup tools you handle in addition
Thanks!
Experiences differ.
Also if I compare the feedback of my german community to this video: The most of these people there agree with the video.
Though the Like/Dislike ratio of this video is quite nomal, so I would say many of the viewers of this video also agree/ take to notice, but aren't writing any comments.
So everything's fine. But yeah I was also wondered about some feedback for this video... Many comments look like they didn't get the point of the video I was trying to tell.
In the future I'll try to make my points of the video more clear :)
You have no clue about how to use timeshift and how it works. right?....
make yourself and your "clients" a favor and learn how to use it with btrfs and maybe make a video about that....
It's not only about btrfs/rsync, if you had watched the whole vid....