Which folders and files do I need to exclude from TimeShift?
Also is there a way to also exclude programs installed as .deb ?
I doing this to reduce Backup size as I have limited storage.
100GB - Windows 11
400GB - Storage
400GB - Mint
100GB - TimeShift
I thought (also most people said) keeping the Backup in same partition as root defeats the purpose of Backup and brings certain inconvenience like can’t just delete the partition. Also I don’t know if its possible to restore a backup from a partition to the same partition itself.
I’m aware that BTRFS has certain adavantages. But the whole BTRFS is alien to me, as I’m new to Linux. Also I assumed that BTRFS doesn’t have enough community support as ext4 is default on Linux and many people just aren’t bothered to change it.
I only use Windows for DaVinci Resolve Free. And for the possibility of requiring Windows exclusive programs in the future as I’m an Engineering Student.
Thank You.
Btrfs is well supported.
Btrfs uses snapshots and subvolumes. It is not a traditional partition and can restore to itself.
I think Timeshift is primarily a snapshotting tool for a quick rollback if something breaks. I would not consider it a full backup tool, there are tools that are much more robust and configurable for keeping files safe and elsewhere.
I would recommend using Timeshift. BTRFS mode can create local snapshots and rsync mode can be used to backup to external media. Timeshift can exclude directories based on user preferences.
So BTRFS can’t create external backups?
Btrfs can send a snapshot to another machine, but there is no pretty gui for it.
Most file systems cannot do this.
How about just another partition on the same disk though?
But AFAIK, Only Pika Backup has intuitive GUI. And It’s auto backup doen’t work on Mint 21.3 cause of some old packge. So I sticked to TimeShift.
Vorta, Deja Dup (duplicity), duplicati are some others.
All of utilities you suggested are awesome.
Which one do you suggest? And why?
As the other user says, btrfs is well supported. In fact it is preferable in your case, as it allows you to use transparent compression for the whole system. In addition, btrfs snapshots are also drastically safer and faster.
So, I have to Install my whole system again? I just started before a month though.
You can convert a running ext4 system into BTRFS and even move back to ext4, but to optimise the file system there are quite a few tricks to run as well. They come down to “remove the ext4 metadata (can’t go back after that), defragment, balance, maybe defragment again” and there are tools out there that make this stuff doable though the GUI, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that approach I novices.
The cleanest switch would be to reinstall. Not just because of the steps above, but also to make sure the right subvolumes are set up with the right properties. This too can be done from a (mostly) running system, but it’s an absolute pain in the ass to have to do manually, especially if you’re not an expert in command line stuff.
ext4 works fine if you don’t want to deal with all of this, but you’ll have to keep an eye on things like backup sizes just a bit more often
Thank You for detailed information.
I think I should learn more about BTRFS and practice installing or converting it in VM.
Doing it in a VM would be excellent! I recommend taking a look at a tool called “btrfs assistant” if it’s available for your distro, it’s a lot easier to navigate than the deep menu of command line flags.
I’ll look into it. I’m using Mint Cinnamon right now.
Thanks.
You can convert it from ext4 to btrfs, but I don’t know how well it works. If you are going to do it, I suggest you check it carefully and make a backup.
Thanks.