Timeshift started not restoring backups

[Pyramidlake]

Hello Linux Mint people (and others),
I have many years IT experience, and have searched the internet back-to-front for a solution to this problem.
I have been using Linux Mint as my main O/S for over 7 years, and use Timeshift to regularly backup and restore to/from an external USB hard drive.

Never had a problem restoring and backups (dozens of times) until about 5 weeks ago.
Used LM 21.3 on external USB stick to do the restore (as usual).
When restore finished and I booted, what I got was what was on the USB stick - a very basic Linux Mint system.
I watched the restore, and it said after parsing the Log File: No Change - 258000, Created 203,000, Deleted 36618, Changed 25000, Size 2280, Permissions 4, Owner 0, Group 0 (all approximate)
My full backup of yesterday (711,000 + files) was not restored (physically written) to the /home directory.
I tried it again several times, same result.

Today, I looked at the contents of Timeshift on my backup drive (plenty of space left)
localhost: less than 3,000 items the same as my USB Linux stick
Which looks like it means Timeshift has considered the backup done, but the restore wasn't written to disk.
I have checked all the Timeshift options, and I can't find what the problem is.

Hoping someone with Timeshift experience can assist.
Thank you.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

You need @wizardfromoz

 

[wizardfromoz]

Thanks, Sherri

@Pyramidlake welcome to linux.org

My full backup of yesterday (711,000 + files) was not restored (physically written) to the /home directory.

Is your (previously) existing Linux Mint install LM 21.3 or one more current, eg 22.1?

Have you had any experience with posting screenshots? If not, https://www.linux.org/threads/posting-screenshots-at-this-site-read-this-for-easy-way.21722/

A screenshot or two of what you are trying to restore, and info on what is currently in place may assist.

TIA (Thanks in Anticipation)

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[Pyramidlake]

Thanks, Sherri

@Pyramidlake welcome to linux.org



Is your (previously) existing Linux Mint install LM 21.3 or one more current, eg 22.1?

Have you had any experience with posting screenshots? If not, https://www.linux.org/threads/posting-screenshots-at-this-site-read-this-for-easy-way.21722/

A screenshot or two of what you are trying to restore, and info on what is currently in place may assist.

TIA (Thanks in Anticipation)

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

Thanks for your reply ...
I'm using 21.3 everywhere until I can be confident of 22 ... my computers are all 8-10 years old.
Yes, I'm familiar with screen shots ... what is it exactly that you want to see? I described it in detail in my post.
I'm also Oz

 

[wizardfromoz]

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

Settings - Location and
Settings - Users would be a good start.

Also, at entry screen where snapshots are displayed, hamburger Menu - About

I'm also Oz

...which State, if I may ask?

Wiz

 

[Condobloke]

1948 .....now that is a GOOD year !

 

[wizardfromoz]

Oh, Brian (he's 11 weeks older than the OP)

 

[bob466]

I have Timeshift setup on an External 2TB HDD because snapshots take up too much Disk space as I have it set to backup all files...when I restore a snapshot I use the Live Session...works every time.

 

[Pyramidlake]

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

Settings - Location and
Settings - Users would be a good start.

Also, at entry screen where snapshots are displayed, hamburger Menu - About



...which State, if I may ask?

Wiz

Tas

 

[bob466]

I should mention...Timeshift is my third choice because it doesn't compress the snapshot or verify it either...that's why I use Foxclone and Redorescue as both compress and verify the image created.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

I should mention...Timeshift is my third choice because it doesn't compress the snapshot or verify it either...that's why I use Foxclone and Redorescue as both compress and verify the image created. View attachment 25599

If I really like this with LMDE and especially if the Zoom problems are minimized I"m going to want to back it up. I chose to start out with LMDE because it's so stable. I'm hoping that will somehow make Zoom more stable and hopefully not cause so many other problems like has on 2 machines with Linux Mint.

 

[Pyramidlake]

I cloned my Linux HD with Clonezilla to several hard drives, to enable me to Test" various things, and the first thing I found, was that when I used the 21.3 USB stick to boot from (live session), I came across several file access problems. The standard user was set to root, and even when set to root, I could not change several files in the Home directory. This was my original problem, which caused the restore to fail.

I installed 21.3 on a blanked HD, and found similar issues when updating linux software. That is, the user I created is supposed to be admin, and set to root, yet had problems accessing several Home files. (new issues to resolve).

Back to testing Timeshift .... when I tried to restore a timeshift backup onto this drive, I again encountered Home access issues.
I deleted all Timeshift backups, created a new Timeshift backup folder, created a new backup and guess what? It restored perfectly. Could this indicate an rsync issue involving multiple backup files?

I re-built my Linux 21.3 from scratch (a lot of work), including Wine and lots of applications and it's all working again.
So, in summary, I have a working Linux Mint system. I have not been able to restore the Timeshift file I wanted to restore, but I have got Timeshift working, and have learned heaps!

Thanks to those who contributed to this post, and I hopw what I have posted here helps others.

GParted can clone disk partitions, and I will checkout the alternatives to Timeshift suggested.

Pyramidlake

 

[wizardfromoz]

@Pyramidlake (should I call him Tassie Devil? Lol)

On the Timeshift subject.

I deleted all Timeshift backups, created a new Timeshift backup folder, created a new backup and guess what? It restored perfectly.

If you wish to continue using Timeshift (as I do) for moving a distro installed from Partition/Drive/PC A to Partition/Drive/PC B, then I would suggest you do the following:

sudo apt-mark hold timeshift

and

sudo apt-mark hold libglib2.0-0

You are in the fortunate position of running Linux Mint 21.3 'Virginia', which is the last Linux Mint version to run Timeshift v21.09, and subsequent versions have lost the functionality described above.

I have logged a request with Linux Mint to look into this, but efforts so far have not seen some assigned to the case.

https://github.com/linuxmint/timeshift/issues/394

If you wish to ask more questions in that regard, ask about it at

https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241

... but don't get lost in the first 32 pages, or it will be like Jumanji, and we will not see you for 20 years.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[Pyramidlake]

Thank you Wizard ... appreciated .....