49
submitted 21 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) by Cornflake@pawb.social to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Hey there, folks! Currently playing around with a laptop that's got three SSDs. Running Arch but that isn't quite related. I have everything configured on one SSD, the other two are totally fresh. What do I need to do to setup one of those fresh SSDs for Timeshift backups? Please walk me through it from the very start- I think I understand some parts but I'm not too certain.

I can format the drives using mkfs.btrfs without any issues, but I'm confused about how I can add subvolumes and configure their root permissions properly to allow Timeshift snapshots.

EDIT: I see now that I misunderstood what Timeshift does. New question- which tool can I use to make a backup of my entire filesystem onto another drive such that it can be restored?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] vhstape@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 20 hours ago

Timshift is to Linux what Time Machine is to Macs. It’s a snapshot tool that lets you roll back a certain file or your entire filesystem to an earlier state

[-] Cornflake@pawb.social 4 points 20 hours ago

That makes more sense- kinda like nondestructive editing when working with audio/video. The snapshot is more or less a list of instructions to revert a system back to a previous state, not an actual copy of everything.

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

Exactly. A backup tool makes an entire copy of a filesystem. A time-based snapshot tool only covers the delta of changes to the filesystem.

So if you want a fully functional copy of your filesystem, then you make a full or incremental copy.

If you just want to be able to "rewind" to a point-in-time version of it, then Timeshift or snapshots allow you to do that.

[-] Cornflake@pawb.social 5 points 20 hours ago

Exactly the information I needed, thank you for this :)

this post was submitted on 11 May 2025
49 points (98.0% liked)

Linux

54100 readers
742 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS