Saving TimeShift to a USB Drive

[Jim Dumas]

Hello.
I'm a new user of Linux Mint. I love it so far and I'm thrilled.
I have a question regarding the use of Time Shift. I want to save my time shift data to an external USB drive so that; if something should go really wrong, I will be able to re-install Linux Mint and use the USB to Recover my data.
I installed Linux Mint on a new computer with a SSD hard drive that has only 64gb of storage. I want to save as much information as possible to a 256gb thumb drive... including Time Shift data.
Is this possible?
When I go into the Time Shift program, I see my thumb drive, but it reads that the thumb drive is not partitioned.
How do I partition the drive, and could I use the thumb drive as an external hard drive for all my files?, or should I look into installing a larger SSD drive?
Sorry, So many questions.

[emiliosm]

Timeshift necesita formato Ext4

[rui no onna]

Instead of Timeshift, consider using something like Clonezilla to create a complete image of your SSD to the thumb drive.

[Pierre]

Timeshift necesita formato Ext4

yep - you need to format your stick to ext4 - only.

& remember that Timeshift will only back-up your system Files,,
and that you will still need to use Back-up Tool for your own files,

whereas Clonezilla will create a complete image of your SSD

[HaveaMint]

usb-stick.png

Look for this App in the Menu to format the stick with.

[michael louwe]

.

.
AFAIK, once you designate the external USB Thumb-drive to store the Timeshift snapshots, you will need to have the Thumb-drive always connected when running LM and Timeshift. If not, Timeshift will likely throw up an error message.

All the Timeshift snapshots "only" take up about 6GB of disk space.

[slipstick]

I keep my TS snapshots on my internal hard drive because I don't want to leave my USB external HDD connected 24/7. But I also make a TS backup every couple of days to the external HDD, using the script in this post:

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=273309#p1496549

I would not recommend using this script to back up to a USB stick as I think the number of write operations to the stick would quickly wear it out.

If you are going to keep your snapshots only on an external device, I think your only choices are to keep the device plugged in 24/7 or else only make "On-demand" snapshots and plug the device in before making a snapshot and unplug it afterwards.

[AZgl1800]

.
AFAIK, once you designate the external USB Thumb-drive to store the Timeshift snapshots, you will need to have the Thumb-drive always connected when running LM and Timeshift. If not, Timeshift will likely throw up an error message.

No, that is NOT a requirement.
In Timeshift turn OFF all scheduled tasks.

I save my Timeshift files to an extUSB HDD all the time.
and I save all of my different laptops and OSs to the same USB HDD.

I use a trick: you do two things:
1) once Timeshift has run, quit. Then open the USB HDD as root.
rename the Timeshift folder Timeshift_PCname

2) now, open that Timeshift folder as Root, now create a Document named PCname.
no need to put anything into that document, it is a place name so you always know what PC that Timeshift folder belongs to.

Note in this image, that I have done that with Timeshift and Aptik.

it works like a charm. you only need to pick the correct folder, and rename it back to timeshift until you have completed your Timeshift backup.

Been doing this for a long time.




For the OP, and his USB Thumb drive, all he need do is format it as ext4.
Then create a folder and name it Timeshift.

Then open Timeshift / Settings / Locations / find the USB drive and select the created Timeshift folder.

[Jim Dumas]

Instead of Timeshift, consider using something like Clonezilla to create a complete image of your SSD to the thumb drive.

I've heard of Clonezilla, but doensn't that defeat the whole purpose of timeshift? It wouldn't schedule the time-shots would it?
Sorry for the lack of knowledge, but I want a separate option for recovering my data, in case of a total hard drive failure.

[Jim Dumas]

Timeshift necesita formato Ext4

yep - you need to format your stick to ext4 - only.

& remember that Timeshift will only back-up your system Files,,
and that you will still need to use Back-up Tool for your own files,

whereas Clonezilla will create a complete image of your SSD

OK.
How do I format my stick to ext4? - only? Sorry. Maybe I should just shut up and research Clonezilla and save you the bother.

[Jim Dumas]

Timeshift necesita formato Ext4

yep - you need to format your stick to ext4 - only.

& remember that Timeshift will only back-up your system Files,,
and that you will still need to use Back-up Tool for your own files,

whereas Clonezilla will create a complete image of your SSD

OK.
How do I format my stick to ext4? - only? Sorry. Maybe I should just shut up and research Clonezilla and save you the bother.

Thank you for the info. You've been a great help.

[rui no onna]

Instead of Timeshift, consider using something like Clonezilla to create a complete image of your SSD to the thumb drive.

I've heard of Clonezilla, but doensn't that defeat the whole purpose of timeshift? It wouldn't schedule the time-shots would it?
Sorry for the lack of knowledge, but I want a separate option for recovering my data, in case of a total hard drive failure.

Timeshift is like Windows System Restore. It allows you to restore to an earlier known good state in case, for example, an update or app install messes up your system. It was *not* designed to protect you from total hard drive failure.

[AZgl1800]

How do I format my stick to ext4? - only? Sorry. Maybe I should just shut up and research Clonezilla and save you the bother.

Go to the Menu/Accessories/USB Stick Formatter

in 18.3 Cinnamon the menu looks like this, but however you need to find, it is called USB Stick Formatter.

or, up in the Search bar, type USB and it will pop up right away..

[Pierre]

you should find it under Accessories, in the Mate Environment - as well.

[Portreve]

If you look at any given TimeShift backup, you'll notice the directory structure includes your user folder. However, if you open it, you'll find it is completely empty.

I'm the last person in the world to ask about data backup software because I maintain an extensive archive and I've yet to see or hear of backup software which suits my needs. Besides, most of the time, my backup process is to just copy new or modified versions of files to their appropriate organizational spots.

[Jim Dumas]

How do I format my stick to ext4? - only? Sorry. Maybe I should just shut up and research Clonezilla and save you the bother.

Go to the Menu/Accessories/USB Stick Formatter

in 18.3 Cinnamon the menu looks like this, but however you need to find, it is called USB Stick Formatter.

or, up in the Search bar, type USB and it will pop up right away..

Thanks. I was able to format the disk to ext4.

[Jim Dumas]

If you look at any given TimeShift backup, you'll notice the directory structure includes your user folder. However, if you open it, you'll find it is completely empty.

I'm the last person in the world to ask about data backup software because I maintain an extensive archive and I've yet to see or hear of backup software which suits my needs. Besides, most of the time, my backup process is to just copy new or modified versions of files to their appropriate organizational spots.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your taking the time to address my issue.

[Rocky Bennett]

I have a question regarding formatting my USB stick to EXT4 to be used as my timeshift backup. I used GPARTED to format my USB stick and it successfully formatted my USB stick to EXT4, but it also flagged the partition on the stick as boot. Does this make a difference?

Thanks,

Rocky

[athi]

If you left the USB drive in during boot and have USB boot activated, it might try to boot from the USB. Otherwise, no.

You can turn off the bootable flag by right clicking on the partition, select Manage Flags and uncheck boot.

[bob466]

I don't see any reason to do this...as I have a System Image stored on an External HDD.