Timeshift & Similar Solutions - Safeguard & Recover Your Linux
- Thread starter wizardfromoz
- Start date
penguinator
New Member
I think ... over on the Bodhi forum one of the developers has found a fix, and this involves creating a missing mime type configuration file. They know Bodhi inside and out, so I'm assuming this will make everything OK.
Unless I post again, I'm considering the problem resolved!
Unless I post again, I'm considering the problem resolved!
OP
G'day @penguinator I am just getting human over my 3rd morning coffee
When you get a chance give me an update over whether the above link has worked, or else I have an alternative.
I have to go for 30 minutes then will be back.
Cheers
Wizard
When you get a chance give me an update over whether the above link has worked, or else I have an alternative.
I have to go for 30 minutes then will be back.
Cheers
Wizard
penguinator
New Member
Hi Wiz, thanks for the follow-up! I just got back from errands, and now it's half-past midnight on Saturday, and not best to put new files into the OS at this hour. Should be able to resume on Sunday afternoon, or evening. I'm also anxious to see Timeshift running properly on my system. But, the screenshot the Bodhi developer sent did look pretty convincing.
Thanks again!
OP
I'll stay tuned.
If you get a chance tomorrow, slip on over to Member Introductions and tell us a bit of the Penguinator story.
You will get a warm welcome from The Gang
Cheers
Wiz
If you get a chance tomorrow, slip on over to Member Introductions and tell us a bit of the Penguinator story.
You will get a warm welcome from The Gang
Cheers
Wiz
penguinator
New Member
Over on the thread in the Bodhi forum (thread link to there in this thread, is in a prior post) trying to figure out the correct entries (and even the correct location!) for a mimeapps.list file. Browse is 'sort of working' with the developer's suggestion, but after it does, the Enlightenment photo-editing program keeps trying to open, a few moments later. Another forum member suggested an alternative directory for the mimeapps file, but if I'm in the right directory, there's already a file there with the same name, but with different contents than what the developer suggested, for pcmanfm. So, were are still getting it sorted, waiting for either the other forum member or the developer to reply.
Pcmanfm has for the first time opened with the Browse button, but we are hoping to prevent the photo-editing program from (also) displaying a Snapshot list -- where we are, right now.
Wiz, if you have interest in seeing what's going on, maybe a fresh pair of eyes will spot the problem right away? On second thought, you've got enough going on over here. If they can't sort it out, I'll bring it to Linux.org. Which forum would be appropriate for the kind of problem described in this post's first paragraph?
Pcmanfm has for the first time opened with the Browse button, but we are hoping to prevent the photo-editing program from (also) displaying a Snapshot list -- where we are, right now.
Last edited:
70 Tango Charlie
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone,
I realize that this does not apply to Bodhi.
What I will say is: Time
Hello Wiz,
I would like to put my two cents worth in; in favor of Timeshift.
I'm running LM 19.2 and been saving once a day on Timeshift for at least a year.
I've never had to use it so I decided today to do a Restore just to see how well it might work.
I'll tell everyone - "IT WORKED EXTREMELY WELL" - from the housetops!!! It was magnificent.
Old Geezer
TC
I realize that this does not apply to Bodhi.
What I will say is: Time
I'll stay tuned.
If you get a chance tomorrow, slip on over to Member Introductions and tell us a bit of the Penguinator story.
You will get a warm welcome from The Gang
Cheers
Wiz
Hello Wiz,
I would like to put my two cents worth in; in favor of Timeshift.
I'm running LM 19.2 and been saving once a day on Timeshift for at least a year.
I've never had to use it so I decided today to do a Restore just to see how well it might work.
I'll tell everyone - "IT WORKED EXTREMELY WELL" - from the housetops!!! It was magnificent.
Old Geezer
TC
70 Tango Charlie
Well-Known Member
Sorry about the mess I've made above.
TC
TC
OP
Music to my ears, Charlie - although I cannot take any credit for it, it is Tony George's baby. He put it out around July 2014, I found it in late September 2014 and have been an advocate for it ever since.
@penguinator
I took a different approach to try to duplicate your circumstances a little, and it works.
I have had Bodhi before but it is not in my stable currently.
Instead I took the Linux Mint 19.2 'Tina' MATE I am writing from, and installed PCManFm on it.
I then opened it as Root from Terminal
Once open, I then tapped the "Up arrow" which says go to Parent a couple of times to get to the File System view.
Then opened Root folder. Path I took was (use Ctrl-h to show hidden files and directories if need be)
/root/.local/share/applications
In Root folder I created an empty file and named it
defaults.list
Content is simply
Saved that and exited the file browser.
Launched Timeshift, chose a snapshot and Browse, and voila.
Works fine.
Maybe something similar will work for you, let me know.
Cheers
Wizard
@penguinator
I took a different approach to try to duplicate your circumstances a little, and it works.
I have had Bodhi before but it is not in my stable currently.
Instead I took the Linux Mint 19.2 'Tina' MATE I am writing from, and installed PCManFm on it.
I then opened it as Root from Terminal
Code:
sudo pcmanfmOnce open, I then tapped the "Up arrow" which says go to Parent a couple of times to get to the File System view.
Then opened Root folder. Path I took was (use Ctrl-h to show hidden files and directories if need be)
/root/.local/share/applications
In Root folder I created an empty file and named it
defaults.list
Content is simply
Code:
inode/directory=pcmanfm.desktop
x-directory/normal=pcmanfm.desktopSaved that and exited the file browser.
Launched Timeshift, chose a snapshot and Browse, and voila.
Works fine.
Maybe something similar will work for you, let me know.
Cheers
Wizard
penguinator
New Member
Thanks, Wiz!
I'm finally getting back to this. As an update, the Bodhi developer (@rbtylee) had, as his first suggestion, something very similar to yours, when he posted:
In his last post, the Bodhi developer says this behavior did not occur on his system. My suspicion is that my pressing the <Enter> key after .desktop may have left something there, that shouldn't be present. So, I'll 'clean up' that file and save it again.
Next, if still a problem, I'll enter what you gave me, in the location you gave, and see what happens then. By now, we're pretty sure this is a 'mime' problem, and not a pcmanfm problem.
I think this will be resolved, sooner or later ...
Thanks!
Ron
I'm finally getting back to this. As an update, the Bodhi developer (@rbtylee) had, as his first suggestion, something very similar to yours, when he posted:
On his system it worked fine, but on mine (and another user, also trying to get pcmanfm's Browse working correctly), while (finally!) causing the pcmanfm to display, after a slight pause, ephoto began to pop-up, again, at intervals.
In his last post, the Bodhi developer says this behavior did not occur on his system. My suspicion is that my pressing the <Enter> key after .desktop may have left something there, that shouldn't be present. So, I'll 'clean up' that file and save it again.
Next, if still a problem, I'll enter what you gave me, in the location you gave, and see what happens then. By now, we're pretty sure this is a 'mime' problem, and not a pcmanfm problem.
I think this will be resolved, sooner or later ...
Thanks!
Ron
OP
No worries, Ron
There's Bodhi 5.0.0 I can download from SourceForge, if we need to, just let me know if that is your version.
If the focus remains primarily on getting that Browse feature functioning in Timeshift, then we can keep it here.
If we are looking to solve wider problems with file associations and how pcmanfm deals with them, then Desktop/X or General Linux will be the go ... possibly Desktop/X.
I have to get up and Posted a Thread for a well-known Member on running multiple Linux sharing the same Home partition, but will be free around my weekend again possibly.
Cheers
Chris.
There's Bodhi 5.0.0 I can download from SourceForge, if we need to, just let me know if that is your version.
If the focus remains primarily on getting that Browse feature functioning in Timeshift, then we can keep it here.
If we are looking to solve wider problems with file associations and how pcmanfm deals with them, then Desktop/X or General Linux will be the go ... possibly Desktop/X.
I have to get up and Posted a Thread for a well-known Member on running multiple Linux sharing the same Home partition, but will be free around my weekend again possibly.
Cheers
Chris.
OP
We are about to help one of our (become well-established) Members, Granny Sue, to walk through her first Timeshift restore process.
As a background to this, if you wish, you can read her Thread here
https://linux.org/threads/egads.27009/
Now, with myself being a multi-multi-booter, I have Timeshift snapshots coming out of my proverbial backside, so I'm choosing the drive I have that is least populated with Linux currently - only 8 of the suckers, and showing you some screenshots from there, and I hope Sue can provide me with similar.
This is from my 256 GB Solid State Drive in the Dell, that is /dev/sdb
SCREENSHOT 1 - WIZ'S TIMESHIFT SUMMARY PAGE - SSD
Mine are all full screenshots, taken on demand (Tag O) and with comments (makes my work easier).
Yours may comprise one full snapshot, taken by schedule or on demand, and followed by one or more incremental screenshots, scheduled or on demand.
We are currently on v19.08.1 of Timeshift, although some Linux Mint users may have the previous version, v19.01. With v19.01, Tony George introduced a safeguard that provided you had comments on a screenshot, it would not be captured in the culling process you may have set, to delete old snapshots after a certain timeframe.
So if your Linux Distro has a version older than 19.01, be sure you upgrade. Click the hamburger Menu at right, and About, to see your version.
You can where my cursor is pointing, to Settings, and that is where we are headed next.
Wiz
As a background to this, if you wish, you can read her Thread here
https://linux.org/threads/egads.27009/
Now, with myself being a multi-multi-booter, I have Timeshift snapshots coming out of my proverbial backside, so I'm choosing the drive I have that is least populated with Linux currently - only 8 of the suckers, and showing you some screenshots from there, and I hope Sue can provide me with similar.
This is from my 256 GB Solid State Drive in the Dell, that is /dev/sdb
SCREENSHOT 1 - WIZ'S TIMESHIFT SUMMARY PAGE - SSD
Mine are all full screenshots, taken on demand (Tag O) and with comments (makes my work easier).
Yours may comprise one full snapshot, taken by schedule or on demand, and followed by one or more incremental screenshots, scheduled or on demand.
We are currently on v19.08.1 of Timeshift, although some Linux Mint users may have the previous version, v19.01. With v19.01, Tony George introduced a safeguard that provided you had comments on a screenshot, it would not be captured in the culling process you may have set, to delete old snapshots after a certain timeframe.
So if your Linux Distro has a version older than 19.01, be sure you upgrade. Click the hamburger Menu at right, and About, to see your version.
You can where my cursor is pointing, to Settings, and that is where we are headed next.
Wiz
OP
In Settings, it looks like this
SCREENSHOT 2 - TIMESHIFT SETTINGS FRONT PAGE
You'll note this is also the same as the first page you see if you have not used Timeshift before and launch it.
I'll only show the tabbed pages I am interested in, and that is Location, Schedule, Users and Filters.
SCREENSHOT 3 - TIMESHIFT SNAPSHOT LOCATION
@Granny Sue - Sue, here I want to establish where you have your snapshots stored. Mine for my solid state drive are on my internal HDD, but yours might be in your Home folder, or on a separate partition on your working drive, or ideally, on an external drive.
Moving on.
SCREENSHOT 4 - SCHEDULE FOR TAKING OF SNAPSHOTS
Here, it can be seen I don't take regular snapshots, but that is because I have so many Linux distros on board. I take them when I am going to introduce new software, before and after major updates, when monkeying with audo-video-printer settings &c.
You might have different settings, as per your needs.
SCREENSHOT 5 - USER SETTINGS
I take a full snapshot each time, having prior to that deleted the previous full snapshot. The snapshot taken is of my / root partition, where my Linux Distro is, and my Home.
Your settings may be different.
SCREENSHOT 6 - PATTERNS (INCLUDE/EXCLUDE)
This one I don't use, typically, but if you make use of any of the "Add to Remove" features, we need to see them.
So if you can provide details on the above, we can best advise, on how to proceed.
Wizard
SCREENSHOT 2 - TIMESHIFT SETTINGS FRONT PAGE
You'll note this is also the same as the first page you see if you have not used Timeshift before and launch it.
I'll only show the tabbed pages I am interested in, and that is Location, Schedule, Users and Filters.
SCREENSHOT 3 - TIMESHIFT SNAPSHOT LOCATION
@Granny Sue - Sue, here I want to establish where you have your snapshots stored. Mine for my solid state drive are on my internal HDD, but yours might be in your Home folder, or on a separate partition on your working drive, or ideally, on an external drive.
Moving on.
SCREENSHOT 4 - SCHEDULE FOR TAKING OF SNAPSHOTS
Here, it can be seen I don't take regular snapshots, but that is because I have so many Linux distros on board. I take them when I am going to introduce new software, before and after major updates, when monkeying with audo-video-printer settings &c.
You might have different settings, as per your needs.
SCREENSHOT 5 - USER SETTINGS
I take a full snapshot each time, having prior to that deleted the previous full snapshot. The snapshot taken is of my / root partition, where my Linux Distro is, and my Home.
Your settings may be different.
SCREENSHOT 6 - PATTERNS (INCLUDE/EXCLUDE)
This one I don't use, typically, but if you make use of any of the "Add to Remove" features, we need to see them.
So if you can provide details on the above, we can best advise, on how to proceed.
Wizard
Granny Sue
Well-Known Member
Before I get into this, have a qwuestion. You and I are working on a couple of other thi;ngs right now. If I use Timeshift to reset Mint to a previous time, I'm going to lose whatever else we're working on, right? Like, fixing the thing so I can get Mtink up and running?
OP
Well spotted Sue, and yes, I was going to come to that.
Changes to your system (includes the mtink) and to any settings, docs, pics, videos &c that are stored in Home, can be lost with a Timeshift Restore, because it is not a pure backup and restore app, it is a recovery app. Also lost, will be any downloads stored in /home/susan/downloads that were downloaded since the last snapshot.
Does that include mtink?
However the screenshots asked for above can still be provided, without actually running the Restore.
Cheers
Wiz
Changes to your system (includes the mtink) and to any settings, docs, pics, videos &c that are stored in Home, can be lost with a Timeshift Restore, because it is not a pure backup and restore app, it is a recovery app. Also lost, will be any downloads stored in /home/susan/downloads that were downloaded since the last snapshot.
Does that include mtink?
However the screenshots asked for above can still be provided, without actually running the Restore.
Cheers
Wiz
Granny Sue
Well-Known Member
ok, here are the screenshots. I have to admit, it beginning to make a little sense. Still scary, but making sense.
Attachments
Granny Sue
Well-Known Member
Nice to know I'm becoming "well-established." I've made so many foolish blunders that I would expect my future here to be "poorly-done."
OP
That's great, Sue - very helpful
You've missed one, and that is Users, my Screenshot 5 above. If you could oblige with that, that would be cool.
With the list of snapshots, they are currently set up only to be kept for 5 days. I would probably change that to 10 for now, or else place a comment beside each one. Commented snapshots are saved beyond the culling date.
If I was writing a job reference would say "Gives everything her best shot".
Wiz
You've missed one, and that is Users, my Screenshot 5 above. If you could oblige with that, that would be cool.
With the list of snapshots, they are currently set up only to be kept for 5 days. I would probably change that to 10 for now, or else place a comment beside each one. Commented snapshots are saved beyond the culling date.
If I was writing a job reference would say "Gives everything her best shot".
Wiz
Naaa! Every mistake made, is an opportunity to learnNice to know I'm becoming "well-established." I've made so many foolish blunders that I would expect my future here to be "poorly-done."
!Granny Sue
Well-Known Member
Sorry about that, here we go.That's great, Sue - very helpful
You've missed one, and that is Users, my Screenshot 5 above. If you could oblige with that, that would be cool.
With the list of snapshots, they are currently set up only to be kept for 5 days. I would probably change that to 10 for now, or else place a comment beside each one. Commented snapshots are saved beyond the culling date.
If I was writing a job reference would say "Gives everything her best shot".
Wiz
