Timeshift & Similar Solutions - Safeguard & Recover Your Linux

[wizardfromoz]

I'm watching you...Hey Bri' while you are around, do me a favour and run

du -ah /var/cache/apt/archives

and jot down the figure.

What Mint version are you on currently?

Chris

 

[Granny Sue]

Sue when you get a chance, the output of the Terminal command

inxi -DP

will tell us how you are situated for space

Wiz

Drives:
Local Storage: total: 335.35 GiB used: 30.75 GiB (9.2%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST3360320AS size: 335.35 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 329.09 GiB used: 30.75 GiB (9.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1

This looks like a lot to me, but then again, what do I know?

 

[wizardfromoz]

You're doing fine, girl. We are really pleased with your progress.

Just to check those figures, give us

df -h

Wiz

 

[wizardfromoz]

TIMESHIFT NEWS - BULLETIN 6

1. For Fedora Users

Don't know if this is old news, as I skipped using Fedora 30 Work Station and went from 29 to 31.

Work Station 31, certainly, is now more accommodating to the installation of Timeshift.

While it does not ship installed, it is in their Repositories.

You can check with

dnf info timeshift

... and if that generates output to the screen, you can then use

sudo dnf install timeshift

In my Cinnamon version, it appears in the Menu under Administration.

So no need to use the procedure of downloading the installer from Tony's Github presence and then

sudo sh ./timeshift*amd64.run

... any more (unless you want to )

It's good to see more of the mainstream Linuxes recognising the considerable value of Timeshift.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[Granny Sue]

You're doing fine, girl. (I love it when you call me, "girl." At 68, I don't hear that very often any more. ) We are really pleased with your progress.

Just to check those figures, give us

df -h

Wiz

susan@Compaq:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev 960M 0 960M 0% /dev
tmpfs 199M 1.2M 198M 1% /run
/dev/sda1 330G 31G 282G 10% /
tmpfs 992M 85M 908M 9% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
tmpfs 992M 0 992M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 199M 36K 199M 1% /run/user/1000


So am I good to set up Timeshift or do I still need to get an external hard drive?

 

[wizardfromoz]

You're good to set it up any time.

Brian and I are two of Timeshift's staunchest advocates or ambassadors because it has saved our bacon many times over.

Brian has recommended an external HDD, as does TS's developer Tony George, as you will also read elsewhere, including my recommended reading.

But we are not here to tell you to expend limited finances on buying something that you can do without for the short term. So your existing HDD is fine and has plenty of space for Timeshift storage.

I would first read, and once absorbed, follow, the guide at Linux Lite

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/tutorials.html#timeshift

and just make allowance for differences with your circumstances, eg no need to create a /backups folder or whatnot.

Under this approach, there is no need for partitioning, as well, because when you choose, in the Wizard Settings, /dev/sda1 - Timeshift will create a folder called

.timeshift (note the dot)

in your Home folder. It will take the first snapshot, and store it there.

Again in the settings, be sure to check the box/es under eg "Include All", this will take a full snapshot.

The first snap will consume about 31 GB, by the looks of the output from the df command.

Subsequent, incremental, snapshots will only consume a few hundred megabytes or a gigabyte or so, as determined by the nett increase in usage of updates installed, and any foreign software you choose to install.

See how you go, and ask any questions where unsure.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[70 Tango Charlie]

Sue when you get a chance, the output of the Terminal command

inxi -DP

will tell us how you are situated for space

Wiz

Hey Wiz,
I have a question concerning the code you gave Sue.
What does the inxi stand for? I have used it a couple of times with interesting results, but don't really know what I am doing!!!
Thanks
TC

 

[70 Tango Charlie]

Hey Wiz,
I have a question concerning the code you gave Sue.
What does the inxi stand for? I have used it a couple of times with interesting results, but don't really know what I am doing!!!
Thanks
TC

Hey Wiz,
To quote a famous US comediene - "Never mind". Lili Tomlin was her name and she played the part of an old time telephone operator back in the early days of TV.
Seriously, I figured it out by going to the man page 'man inxi'. Now, If my memory will co-operate, I may be able to figure out a whole bunch of stuff.
Nice talking with you anyhow.
TC

 

[wizardfromoz]

Glad you are exploring Charlie, goodonyer! The "mans" are good albeit some are long, and most of them you can also get in PDF format on the internet if you want to save them.

I adore/d Lili Tomlin in Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and all of the cast, especially when she snorted with laughter. If you are interested there is an Off-Topic Forum Rob (our admin) started in June here

https://www.linux.org/forums/off-topic.203/

and in there is a TV topic we could shoot the breeze in.

Nice talking with you anyhow.

Always a pleasure.

Wiz

 

[Granny Sue]

You're good to set it up any time.

Brian and I are two of Timeshift's staunchest advocates or ambassadors because it has saved our bacon many times over.

Brian has recommended an external HDD, as does TS's developer Tony George, as you will also read elsewhere, including my recommended reading.

But we are not here to tell you to expend limited finances on buying something that you can do without for the short term. So your existing HDD is fine and has plenty of space for Timeshift storage.

I would first read, and once absorbed, follow, the guide at Linux Lite

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/tutorials.html#timeshift

and just make allowance for differences with your circumstances, eg no need to create a /backups folder or whatnot.

Under this approach, there is no need for partitioning, as well, because when you choose, in the Wizard Settings, /dev/sda1 - Timeshift will create a folder called

.timeshift (note the dot)

in your Home folder. It will take the first snapshot, and store it there.

Again in the settings, be sure to check the box/es under eg "Include All", this will take a full snapshot.

The first snap will consume about 31 GB, by the looks of the output from the df command.

Subsequent, incremental, snapshots will only consume a few hundred megabytes or a gigabyte or so, as determined by the nett increase in usage of updates installed, and any foreign software you choose to install.

See how you go, and ask any questions where unsure.

Cheers

Wizard

Thanks. Perhaps I'll get to that tomorrow, bit under the weather today.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Timeframe is all yours, Sue.

Be well

Chris

 

[Granny Sue]

Timeframe is all yours, Sue.

Be well

Chris

Thanks, Chris, may give it a try tonight. I've been totally unsuccessful at my needlework projects. Sheesh!

 

[penguinator]

Timeshift's Browse feature -- and pcmanfm compatibility
I noted that installing timeshift in Bodhi linux is mentioned in this thread, but there's a compatibility problem between its default file manager and timeshift's Browse feature.

The Browse feature 'aborts' because pcmanfm won't 'go into' root as required to browse the timeshift snapshot files.

What's the best work-around for this? Is there some very minimal file manager that could display the files, and if so, then could timeshift be configured to use this one, instead of the default? Or, can pcmanfm be made to 'behave' -- as do some other file managers??

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @penguinator and welcome to linux.org

I have to leave for my Saturday night in Australia but will be back tomorrow

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[arochester]

The Browse feature 'aborts' because pcmanfm won't 'go into' root as required to browse the timeshift snapshot files.

I'm not sure I understand this. Have you tried starting pcmanfm from the Terminal?

sudo pcmanfm

Or, in your Autostart have you got the appropriate polkit?

 

[penguinator]

...
The Browse feature 'aborts' because pcmanfm won't 'go into' root [when activated from the timeshift Browse button] as required to browse the timeshift snapshot files.

I'm not sure I understand this.

My apologies for being a bit too 'telegraphic'. Does my boldface edit in square brackets help clarify what I meant to write?

Have you tried starting pcmanfm from the Terminal?

sudo pcmanfm

Or, in your Autostart have you got the appropriate polkit?

Yes, that command would start pcmanfm as root, no problem. But, I'd just like to have timeshift work as intended, without having to leave timeshift, open a terminal window to run pcmanfm, as root, and then working one's way to the snapshot directory, before being able to view those files.

I've used timeshift in OS's with other file managers and using its Browse button works quite nicely. .

Not sure if I understand how your reference to using 'the appropriate polkit' might solve the problem. Would that give pcmanfm the capability to open as root, when started from inside timeshift, after clicking its 'Browse' button? If yes, that would be great, that it could be so easy! But then, please give more details.

Thanks for the good questions and it will likely make what I want to do more clear to Chris, when he returns, if he'd like to scan over your post and my reply.

 

[penguinator]

G'day @penguinator and welcome to linux.org

I have to leave for my Saturday night in Australia but will be back tomorrow

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

G'day also! Thanks for the cheery greeting. I've fine-tuned my question by clarifying it for @arochester, so you may want to look at that exchange, when you return.

Ron

 

[arochester]

Unfortunately, the man pages for polkit are as thick as mince.

Look at https://linux.die.net/man/8/polkit and scroll down to Authentication Agents

I use lxqt and have lxpolkit. If I didn't have it, Synaptic won't start because it is not authorised. If I do have it I will get a GUI to enter the Root Password and Synaptic will start,

There are different polkits for different Desktops e.g. lxpolkit, mate-polkit.

It's a bit try-it-and-see but if you have polkit it is probable that when you go to start Timeshift it will ask for the Root Password...

 

[penguinator]

Additional Info on pcmanfm and using it as root, to view files that require this functionality:
I am reading that pcmanfm used to be able to enter 'root mode' without a restart, but this was removed because the developers thought it was too dangerous, or whatever.

This may have been limited to offering the user a Context menu selection. Not sure, never ran the older version that still had this capability.

There are a couple of 'hacks' posted on the lxde site that claim to regain this capability but I think it's only to regain a Context menu selection. I don't know exactly what timeshift is doing to force file managers (other than pcmanfm) into root when the user clicks Browse, but I suspect it's not just going through a Context menu entry.

If Chris knows what's going on, I would be most interested to learn of it.. I'll confess, I have no idea.

This is one reason I suggested the cure may be to run a second, very small and light (but compatible) file manager, for the excluside use of timeshift, in systems where the desktop environment is 'locked-into' an incompatible default browser.

Unfortunately, timeshift has no built-in file manager (this, of course, would always 'just work'), so it's reliant on whatever it finds as the system default.

 

[penguinator]

... if you have polkit ... when you go to start Timeshift it will ask for the Root Password...

Thanks for the fast reply!

Yes, in that case, I do have polkit installed, and it's working just fine, because what you described is exactly what happens when Timeshift is started.

But even so, now that Timeshift is running as root, if one clicks Browse -- presumably, it's 'trying' to open pcmanfm, but the file manager fails to start.

I don't mean it fails to start as root, I mean -- it completely fails to start in any mode.

I should say, other Bodhi users are being (and have been, for some time) frustrated by the same problem -- everyone wants to be able to run Timeshift (properly, of course!) and there is no alternative file restoration utility, that I know of, that's compatible with pcmanfm.