Timeshift is awesome.

[Jason]

I'm not sure how many members use this application but it's been great for me. Before I make any major change to my system, I image my system to a flash drive. I also have it set to do automatic backups. I recently upgraded Linux Lite 5.4 to 5.6 and did it right before, just in case.

It occurred to me that some might wonder how it's any better than, say, Clonezilla. Well, Timeshift does incremental backups which basically means that the first image is big but after that, it only records changes to that image. So it's quite fast after that initial backup and takes up a lot less space than multiple whole drive images.

And if you're backing up an external flash drive that is 3.x, it's faster than you might think even for that initial image. I think it was under 20 minutes.

The other great thing about incremental backups in Timeshift is that you can have one scheduled for every month, week, day or even hour and you don't have to worry much about space. My system drive (i.e. /) uses up about 17 GB. Right now, I have 14 backups on my Timeshift drive. Total space used? 20 GB.

I don't have a fast processor but I've never noticed when it makes a backup.

If you can't boot your system because of a bad upgrade or some files you accidentally deleted, or any other major change, boot from any distro w/ timeshift on it (Linux Mint does) and restore your system in no time flat.

I know, I sound like a bad ad, but it really is pretty cool. Here's an article about how to install and use it.

So, do any of you use it? If not, why not? Genuinely curious. I don't bite.

[fox]

I used TimeShift when I was using Linux Mint as my main distro (on my late 2015 iMac). As you noted, backups don't seem to affect performance. The only time that I can recall when I was in a situation where a change bunged stuff up wasn't during an upgrade. It was after when I did an autoremove. I did it to remove old kernels, but this one took out some 32 bit libraries that a few of my apps needed to run. I guess that, had I been using TimeShift, I could have fixed that by going to an earlier state.

[buster]

I use it sometimes.

[ssfc72]

I have Win OS and Linux dual booting on some of my notebook computers so I just use Rescuezilla to image the whole drive.

[Jason]

I have Win OS and Linux dual booting on some of my notebook computers so I just use Rescuezilla to image the whole drive.

Bill:

1. How often do you do it?
2. And how long does it take? Is it incremental? In other words, do you have to do a fresh install each time or are second times shorter?
3. Where do you back up the drive to?

Btw, you might already know this but Windows has its own ability to make system images. I can't speak to how great it works. If I ever get my old computer again, maybe I'll try Windows 11. I'd probably have to help friends with it, so might as well get to know it.

[Jason]

I guess that, had I been using TimeShift, I could have fixed that by going to an earlier state.

That's what I like about it the most. I did some stuff that broke my desktop environment. I probably could have spent some time fixing it, but a Timeshift restore was easier and quicker.

I'm surprised that the autoremove took your 32-bit libraries. I would have thought they would have been known dependencies for your apps that needed them and thus, not removed.

[fox]

....
I'm surprised that the autoremove took your 32-bit libraries. I would have thought they would have been known dependencies for your apps that needed them and thus, not removed.

I was surprised, too. But of the two apps that needed them, one is an old statistics package that has to be installed from a CD installer. The other was Microsoft Office 2010 that runs on Crossover. So neither is an item in a repository, if that matters. Still, that never happened before. Serves me right for running that command without first checking what would be removed.

[ssfc72]

I usually image the drive before I do something to the OS, that i think could mess it up.
The image of the drive takes around 20 minutes?  I just go and do other things in the house and come back to the computer, when it has finished the backup.
I backup to an external usb drive.

Bill:

1. How often do you do it?
2. And how long does it take? Is it incremental? In other words, do you have to do a fresh install each time or are second times shorter?
3. Where do you back up the drive to?

Btw, you might already know this but Windows has its own ability to make system images. I can't speak to how great it works. If I ever get my old computer again, maybe I'll try Windows 11. I'd probably have to help friends with it, so might as well get to know it.