[SOLVED]Timeshift and the Settings Cont. - A Few Basic Questions

[gm10]

What I don't understand is, if my snapshot file is only 8.5GB (and the filter is set to include all) and I delete a game from ~/.steam/.steamapps, then how is Timeshift able to rebuild all those files of that game? The game itself was 7.2GB alone.

Either another mistake on your end in checking the size of one or the other or your game files are not actually located in that folder.

[Glitched]

Somewhat related: You can also reinstall your system without overwriting your home folder, that way you can wipe the slate clean without losing any of your user-specific settings.

Thank You GM10. You've been so patient and helpful. How can you do that system reinstall w/out overwriting home folder? Is that a setting I keep missing in the Live Boot Cd Installation? I could have sworn I knew that installation process like the back of my hand.

On a side note..I've browsed this forum's various boards. Seems to me like I saw one called chat. Is there a Mint live chat room somewhere? If so, what is the etiquette for questions? I'd hate to interrupt a conversation between a few pros about something complex just to ask a simple question. But that method seems way more efficient than constant browsing and posting on forums.

Thanks Again

[Glitched]

What I don't understand is, if my snapshot file is only 8.5GB (and the filter is set to include all) and I delete a game from ~/.steam/.steamapps, then how is Timeshift able to rebuild all those files of that game? The game itself was 7.2GB alone.

Either another mistake on your end in checking the size of one or the other or your game files are not actually located in that folder.

No mistake.
Screenshot of Properties of my snapshot.

screengrab 2.png

Screenshot of Properties of Game Inside of Snapshot

screengrab.png

and lastly, Screenshot of Game inside my user home folder

screengrab 3.png

I just tested again. Deleted game in my user home folder. Did a restore. And it was place back. Must mean all the other files in my snapshot are not that large. Which is odd bc I have my filter set to include all (except /mnt and /media). I would think all the libs of Mint would add up.

Either way, I think I'm going to call it good enough. It works and I think this thread has gone on long enough.

[gm10]

Your first screenshot shows that you are missing the permissions to read all files in that folder, so that's not the complete size. Run this to get the real size:

Code: Select all

sudo du -s /media/cmdrstorm/Seagate\ 320GB/timeshift

[Moem]

How can you do that system reinstall w/out overwriting home folder? Is that a setting I keep missing in the Live Boot Cd Installation? I could have sworn I knew that installation process like the back of my hand.

It's not a setting. It's done in the Something Else section of the installer, where you manually assign the partitions for installation. Point the installer to install /home on the current /home partition, but DO NOT format it (untick the box for formatting). Assign / to the current / and do format that.
Before you start make a full backup of /home just in case.
These instructions assume that your home is already a separate partition, not a directory inside /.

Is there a Mint live chat room somewhere? If so, what is the etiquette for questions? I'd hate to interrupt a conversation between a few pros about something complex just to ask a simple question. But that method seems way more efficient than constant browsing and posting on forums.

It is and it isn't. Chat is fleeting, you can't read it back two weeks later. But for simple questions, it might work for you, so go ahead and try it out. Start Hexchat from your menu and it will land you right in the correct channel, and show you a bunch of helpful information, including where to find the etiquette as well.

[Glitched]

Thanks Moem, I'll give hex a try. My home is not on a separate partition. Should it be? Guess I'll start googling all that tomorrow.

[Moem]

My home is not on a separate partition. Should it be?

That's a matter of opinion, and of preference. Some people here consider it to be more complicated. I'm not one of them. I consider it no more complicated than the standard setup, and it's much easier if you want the ability to reinstall the OS while leaving the home intact.
Different people, different priorities... as always.

[Glitched]

Having a separate partition for /home seems like a great idea! I'm curious how .configs would get loaded during bootup. For example, when I set up compiz wallpapers, I set each of the 4 different wallpapers to be from my internal backup drive. I figured that way I wouldn't have to make duplicates of the same file and waste hard drive space. But I found that on reboots, my wallpapers would be black, even though my extra internal drive mounts on startup. If I logged out, and then back in, everything would look right. I rectified it by just placing the images in my /home/cmdrstorm/pictures, so no biggy. My guess would be that the desktop environment stuff is loaded before the system loads /media. I wonder if everything is loaded in alphabetical order? Like /bin /home and /lib are loaded before /media.

[gm10]

Shouldn't be a problem, the default mount options will have the boot process wait for your drive to become ready.