Timeshift problem

[petrus1928]

Recently successfully upgraded to Vanessa, But Timeshift seems to have a problem. Clicking to create a new snapshot opens a window which immediately closes. No new snapshot in the list of available snapshots. Settings are:- Type: RSYNC, Location: external hdd (409Gb free), Schedule: monthly. Users: /, /Home, (all files). NB! When opening the external hdd in file manager there are more files and folders shown than appear in Timeshift's list of available snapshots. What am I doing wrong? Your help will be greatly appreciated.

[Cosmo.]

Try this:

Select in TS another partition for the snapshots. You can select the current partition again, if those snapshots are needed.
Does a new snapshot get created now?

BTW: Adding /home to TS is a bad idea. Assume, that you have a problem with your system and need to revert, than all newer user data (documents, e-mails, browser bookmarks and more) will be irretrievable lost forever.

I wonder if it helps, if you - instead of my above advice - deselect /home and try it again with the current snapshot partition.

[AndyMH]

I have not checked it, but after complaints* I believe timeshift in LM21 checks free space on the partition set as the destination for your snapshots. If free space < 100GB it won't do the snapshot. So check free space on your destination. If this is what it does when free space < 100GB and it is not giving a warning, then bad!

Note - if using timeshift to backup the contents of /home, a bad idea, not what it was designed for.

* too many posts from newbies using timeshift with the defaults on a small / partition, fill it up = no boot.

[Cosmo.]

I believe timeshift in LM21 checks free space on the partition set as the destination for your snapshots. If free space < 100GB it won't do the snapshot.

This would be terrible. Which snapshot will take 100 GB room?

I believe, that you mixed something. Actually there was a update, where Timeshift checks, if there is on the snapshot partition more room than for the first snapshot has been needed; this should men in the most cases less than 15 GB. And if this should be the case, a message will be shown. Silently closing as for the OP would be terrible in such a situation. See https://github.com/linuxmint/timeshift/ ... 1954e3f093

So it must be something else.

[AndyMH]

I must have misread it, did not make it up. If I can find where I got it from I'll post it. But agreed, if I was true, a bad choice
Yet to test it in LM21.

[Cosmo.]

What I can imagine in this case: We know, that the OP includes home in the snapshot, a missuse, as already said. But with home included it is imaginable be, that the space for the new snapshot is not sufficient. Although in this case the program should give a message and not silently close.

An attempt to check this idea would be my last advice, to exclude home and try again. Might be, that now the room on the partition is enough.

[AZgl1800]

I have a dedicated partition for Timeshift of about 40gB, so far, it has been more than enough

[petrus1928]

SOLVED! Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions. I've resolved the problem by removing all previous TS snapshots. After all, they were redundant after upgrading to 'Vanessa'. Speaking of which, many thanks to the development team. Congratulations! 'Tis looking so good! I'm in awe of you.
I had originally thought that there was plenty of free space on the external hdd. But apparently not, because the latest attempt was successful after file removal. Re suggestions to exclude /home from TS snapshots. Wouldn't it be advantageous to be able to restore ones data after a major catastrophe if /home is included in a TS snapshot? My home folder is minimal because the bulk of my data is on a removable drive that can be accessed by Windows and Mac machines as well as Linux which is by far my favourite OS. I need some knowledge of these other OS's because of my activities at our local Computer Club. Once again, many thanks, and have an absolutely splendid day.

[HaveaMint]

Wouldn't it be advantageous to be able to restore ones data after a major catastrophe if /home is included in a TS snapshot? My home folder is minimal because the bulk of my data is on a removable drive that can be accessed by Windows and Mac machines as well as Linux which is by far my favourite OS.

Negative, If you bork your system files and restore it any personal files that have been changed since your last snapshot will be over written. Not a good backup choice. I prefer a different approach for personal files. viewtopic.php?f=42&t=272993

[Cosmo.]

Re suggestions to exclude /home from TS snapshots. Wouldn't it be advantageous to be able to restore ones data after a major catastrophe if /home is included in a TS snapshot?

What is a major catastrophe?

Possibility 1: Out of a reason the system is not more usable. You need to restore a snapshot, but for this purpose you do not need to restore your data. Catastrophes have the property, that they are unpredictable. You even cannot say, that the latest snapshot will help, so you must use an older one; for this purpose they exist (depending from your settings). But using an older snapshot would mean, that all newer data will be lost and they are lost forever.

Possibility 2: You did a change in the system, but only after some time (several days or weeks) you noticed, that this was not a good idea. This is a situation we see in the forum daily. Now you obviously need to restore an older snapshot, but with your attempt you will loose all your data, which are in home in the time after the used snapshot.

You say, that there is hardly anything in your home, but most things are in an external drive. Do really all data are on the other device, inclusive e-mails (if you use a mail client) and browser bookmarks? What about your user settings in the system and in programs?
But even if really all of interest is outside of your home: Why do you back that up at all? And if you want to back them up, what speaks against a dedicated backup program?

At the end: Timeshift had been developed for securing the system and only the system. So it is not enough to say "Why not include data" but you must ask "Why include data anyway".

[cliffcoggin]

Wouldn't it be advantageous to be able to restore ones data after a major catastrophe if /home is included in a TS snapshot?

You should certainly back up your data on a regular basis, but Timeshift is the wrong tool for that job. Use Back In Time, Rsync (or Grsync), or some other back up tool for data; use Timeshift for the operating system. They complement each other.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Wouldn't it be advantageous to be able to restore ones data after a major catastrophe if /home is included in a TS snapshot? My home folder is minimal because the bulk of my data is on a removable drive that can be accessed by Windows and Mac machines as well as Linux which is by far my favourite OS.

Negative, If you bork your system files and restore it any personal files that have been changed since your last snapshot will be over written. Not a good backup choice. I prefer a different approach for personal files. viewtopic.php?f=42&t=272993

An easy fix is to not keep any personal data in /home. Then, you can include /home in Timeshift snapshots so you can backup all your settings as well as the rest of the system. This also allows you to use more appropriate software to back up your data.