ChronShield - a replacement for Timeshift

[fstjohn]

ChronShield, from Tony George, is in Beta. ChronShield is a replacement for Timeshift and has many advantages. I'm attaching a link to a comparison of Chronshield, Timeshift and Timeshift/BTRFS.

I'm participating in the Beta testing, while maintaining my periodic Timeshift backups. I keep two weekly Timeshift backups. My schedule for ChronShield is: keep 8 hourly, 7 daily and 4 weekly backups. To this point I have a total of 11 snapshots. They TOTAL 24.4GB and remain virtually the same when new snapshots are added. The 2 Timeshift backups TOTAL 115.7GB. Both Chronshield and Timeshift backups include root and settings files from /home.

Here's a link to Tony's site which is a comparison between ChronShield, Timeshift and Timeshift/BTRFS:
https://teejeetech.com/chronshield-compare/

Please note that when this program comes out of Beta it will NOT be free. I don't know what the pricing will be, but in the past Tony's offerings have been from $15 to $25 for a perpetual license with all future updates, for use on all your machines. I expect ChronShield will be in the same ballpark.

As you may know, Tony was the author of Timeshift, years ago, and has turned over the maintenance to the Mint team. His website (TeeJeetech.com) has a listing of his current offerings and their prices.

[BenTrabetere]

ChronShield, from Tony George, is in Beta.

Thanks for the notice - I have been waiting for this ever since Tony mentioned it in his blog.

Alas, I installed it to my Fedora, Manjaro, and Mint installations on my Break It machine, but it only opens to the Recovery Mode screen. I want to eliminate a PEBCAK error before I report it as a bug. Is there a trick to getting to the setup screen? Did you have to manually edit the /etc/chronshield/app.json and/or the /etc/chronshield/profiles/recovery.json files?

[fstjohn]

ChronShield, from Tony George, is in Beta.

Thanks for the notice - I have been waiting for this ever since Tony mentioned it in his blog.

Alas, I installed it to my Fedora, Manjaro, and Mint installations on my Break It machine, but it only opens to the Recovery Mode screen. I want to eliminate a PEBCAK error before I report it as a bug. Is there a trick to getting to the setup screen? Did you have to manually edit the /etc/chronshield/app.json and/or the /etc/chronshield/profiles/recovery.json files?

Nope, no editing needed (on Mint Cinnamon 21.2). It installed nicely. One thing to note, and I've reported it, is that the Beta has both generate and recover selections. Since recovery is specifically via live OS, there should be a generate and a recover app and neither app should include the other. Also reported that manually generating a snapshot does not create a log entry. There's other stuff as well, that probably will be fixed in the release version but that's the main observations so far.

[fstjohn]

This afternoon I completely borked my desktop system by stupidly (yeah) browsing the /usr directory as root. I seemingly (not on purpose, I swear) erased the whole thing or at least a major part of it which, of course, immediately froze my system. Hard power off and reboot stopped at the Mint logo and no further. I booted the live recovery iso for ChronShield, initiated a recovery, and everything was back to normal in a few minutes. If that hadn't worked it would have been a Foxclone reload and lots of software updates, but happily that wasn't needed. This product has merit, especially considering the frugal disk space needed for backups.

[all41]

I like how MXsnapshot makes a hybrid .iso of the entire custom installation
which can then be written to usb even ventory. The resuting usb will boot to the live desktop, here you can make more modifications and the installer ask if you want to keep the newly made changes. Then just click the install icon, and select the destination.
The system is re-written exactly--with all files, apps, settings, and customization intact.
With no custom drivers or ppas I can use the usb to boot and install my version of Mint to other pcs.

[minthelp777]

Looks interesting, for sure.
Only thing I'm not sure of is the restore process. Would you have to do the following?:
Boot a live USB version of LM with ChronShield on it, then access the backup location (for example, plug in your external HD), then mount your regular LM HD filesystem on your computer, fire up ChronShield, access your backed-up files, and then copy whichever ones you want to restore back to you orig HD?

[fstjohn]

Looks interesting, for sure.
Only thing I'm not sure of is the restore process. Would you have to do the following?:
Boot a live USB version of LM with ChronoShield on it, then access the backup location (for example, plug in your external HD), then mount your regular LM HD filesystem on your computer, fire up ChronoShield, access your backed-up files, and then copy whichever ones you want to restore back to you orig HD?

It's just a matter of booting a live USB with either LM or any other live Linux OS, running a command line to load ChronShield OR just booting the ChronShield usb with an ubuntu OS and running a restore after selecting the backup you want from your backup location. You don't have to select any particular files. As long as your OS partition is readable it'll restore the system. If your OS partition is bad (disk is reformatted, etc.) then you have to restore from a backup like Foxclone or Clonezilla. This is true of Timeshift as well. Both need a valid partition to do a restoration. That's why it's vital to always have a partition backup (Foxclone or Clonezilla) even if it's not particularly current. Once or twice a month is sufficient. You could do a Foxclone/Clonezilla restore followed by Chronshield and Homi or Backintime; ChronShield restores the OS and Homi/Backintime restores /home. You could go with just Foxclone/Clonezilla followed by a lot of updates but that wouldn't restore any changes to /home since the last Foxclone/Clonezilla backup.

[minthelp777]

Okay, great, thanks.

[BenTrabetere]

Alas, I installed it to my Fedora, Manjaro, and Mint installations on my Break It machine, but it only opens to the Recovery Mode screen. I want to eliminate a PEBCAK error....

I reported my problem to Tony George, and it was PEBCAK. I read through the announcement, scrolled up to find the installation command, and used the "Restoring from Live USB" command instead of the "Try the BETA" command. Bangs head on desk....

[MikeNovember]

[...]
Here's a link to Tony's site which is a comparison between ChronShield, Timeshift and Timeshift/BTRFS:
https://teejeetech.com/chronshield-compare/
[...]

Hi,

This link shows two design misconceptions: flatpaks and snaps are excluded from Cronshield and Timeshift "in order to save place".

This is a very wrong design; snaps and flatpaks, once installed, are parts of the system and should be backed up.

Moreover, flatpak information is wrong! Flatpaks are backed up and restored with Timeshift, even with the rsync version.
In each Timeshift snapshot there is an "exclude.list" file; here is mine, default one (I don't use Timeshift for home backup):

Code: Select all

/dev/*  /proc/*  /sys/*  /media/*  /mnt/*  /tmp/*  /run/*  /var/run/*
/var/lock/*  /var/lib/dhcpcd/*  /var/lib/docker/*  /var/lib/schroot/*
/lost+found  /timeshift/*  /timeshift-btrfs/*  /data/*  /DATA/*  /cdrom/*
/sdcard/*  /system/*  /etc/timeshift.json  /var/log/timeshift/*  /var/log/timeshift-btrfs/*  /swapfile 
/snap/*
/root/.thumbnails  /root/.cache  /root/.dbus  /root/.gvfs
/root/.local/share/[Tt]rash  /home/*/.thumbnails  /home/*/.cache  /home/*/.dbus  /home/*/.gvfs
/home/*/.local/share/[Tt]rash  root/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/Cache  /root/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/OfflineCache
/root/.opera/cache  /root/.kde/share/apps/kio_http/cache  /root/.kde/share/cache/http
/home/*/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/Cache  /home/*/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/OfflineCache
/home/*/.opera/cache  /home/*/.kde/share/apps/kio_http/cache
/home/*/.kde/share/cache/http  /var/cache/apt/archives/*  /var/cache/pacman/pkg/*
/var/cache/yum/*  /var/cache/dnf/*  /var/cache/eopkg/*
/var/cache/xbps/*  /var/cache/zypp/*  /var/cache/edb/*
/home/michel/**  /root/**  /home/*/**

That list shows Timeshift rsync does not perform a full system backup.

It shows "/snap/*" is excluded (it is excluded in the code, there is no option to include it); but it doesn't show flatpaks exclusion: "/var/lib/flatpak" is not in the list, and flatpaks are really backed up / restored when I use timeshift.

Finally, snap exclusion in Timeshift rsync is wrongly implemented: snaps are not backed up, but, when you restore a snapshot, existing snaps installation is destroyed. See https://github.com/linuxmint/timeshift/issues/179

So, my confidence in Teejee's Timeshift and Cronshield is very low, because of wrong specifications of both, and wrong implementations of Timeshift rsync.

I do use Timeshift (since I don't use snaps but flatpaks), but I don't use it alone: I use Clonezilla, less frequently than Timeshift, in which I have full confidence.

Regards,

MN

[minthelp777]

ChronShield's encryption and file integrity are very nice, and very important, I personally believe. Timeshift doesn't have either. I tried backing up Timeshift to a VeraCrypt volume to try to get encryption for system backups but it doesn't work, so it's nice that ChronShield has these features.
Also, compression, de-duplication, and faster free space estimation are actually pretty nice, too. I think I'll try it out. Thanks for mentioning this, fstjohn.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

[...]
Here's a link to Tony's site which is a comparison between ChronShield, Timeshift and Timeshift/BTRFS:
https://teejeetech.com/chronshield-compare/
[...]

Hi,

This link shows two design misconceptions: flatpaks and snaps are excluded from Cronshield and Timeshift "in order to save place".


Capture du 2024-10-01 08-51-03.png


This is a very wrong design; snaps and flatpaks, once installed, are parts of the system and should be backed up....

I wondered about that when I saw that chart. I suspect the reference in the Timeshift column may have been a typo since I haven't lost any of my flatpaks when I've done a Timeshift restore (as far as I know, I don't have ant snaps). If ChronShield will exclude flatpaks, then I will have no use for it and will stay with Timeshift.

...So, my confidence in Teejee's Timeshift and Cronshield is very low, because of wrong specifications of both, and wrong implementations of Timeshift rsync....

My confidence in Timeshift is very high since I know it's limitations. It's intended to revert a bootable, working operating system and programs (apps, or whatever the next fad name will be) to an earlier state, much like Windows Restore did, the difference being is Timeshift works 99 44/100% while Windows Restore was hit and miss in XP and didn't work at all in Win 7. It is not intended to restore a system that is so broken it can't boot.

I depend heavily on Timeshift since has been so reliable for me. I manually create snapshots once a week, whether I need one or not ('tis better to have and not need it than to need it and not have it) and also manually create one before doing anything potentially dodgy, such as installing or removing programs, making potentially irreversible settings changes, or running potentially dodgy updates and upgrades, such as kernel updates.

Creating snapshots manually dramatically reduces the number being created over having them created on a schedule and allows me to label each one with the reason it was created, making it easier to decide which one I may need to restore. Manually culling my snapshots allows me to get rid of superfluous snapshots while allowing me to keep ones I potentially may need later. All this takes me far less time than one would think.

I have used Timeshift to restore a non-booting system by booting up Mint from my Ventoy disk, then restoring a snapshot from there but the results were hit and miss. Images are far more reliable for restoring a non-bootable system.

...I do use Timeshift (since I don't use snaps but flatpaks), but I don't use it alone: I use Clonezilla, less frequently than Timeshift, in which I have full confidence.

Regards,

MN

I do the same except I prefer Foxclone over Clonezilla. I make an image, along with some other tasks, such as answering the call of nature, rebooting my modems and router, and cleaning the dust filters on my computer, first thing every Saturday morning. Everything I do at that time takes only around 10 minutes of which only five minutes is time I actually spend. On the first Saturday of the month, I add a deep clean of my computer and monitors, and "test" the image I made by restoring it to a freshly swapped boot drive, all of which which adds only around 10 minutes or so of my time (big deal).

Granted, Clonezilla is far more versatile than Foxclone or Rescuezilla but Clonezilla's GUI scares the "stinky stuff" out of me since it would be so easy for me to "foul" things up. Foxclone is safer for me and meets my needs 99 44/100% of the time (and there was a workaround for that other 66/100% of the time).

[AZgl1800]

I always use Timeshift.

last week, I borked my system with a PEBCAK

used Timeshift to restore it back like it was,
I did NOT loose any Flatpaks.

I don't know if I have an Snaps or not, haven't looked.

I have a lot of Tony George apps, well worth the small fees.

[AZgl1800]

ChronShield, from Tony George, is in Beta. ChronShield is a replacement for Timeshift and has many advantages. I'm attaching a link to a comparison of Chronshield, Timeshift and Timeshift/BTRFS.

I'm participating in the Beta testing, while maintaining my periodic Timeshift backups. I keep two weekly Timeshift backups. My schedule for ChronShield is: keep 8 hourly, 7 daily and 4 weekly backups. To this point I have a total of 11 snapshots. They TOTAL 24.4GB and remain virtually the same when new snapshots are added. The 2 Timeshift backups TOTAL 115.7GB. Both Chronshield and Timeshift backups include root and settings files from /home.

are you using this on your daily driver system, or a completely separate system?

I would like to try it on my DD laptop....

I put it on my backup laptop with LM22 Cinnamon, and wow, the ChronShield size is more than 10 times smaller than Timeshift.....

I am ready to jump ship on my Daily Driver laptop.

[Peter Linu]

What part of flatpaks, etc is system files and not data?

[fstjohn]

are you using this on your daily driver system, or a completely separate system?

I would like to try it on my DD laptop....

I put it on my backup laptop with LM22 Cinnamon, and wow, the ChronShield size is more than 10 times smaller than Timeshift.....

I am ready to jump ship on my Daily Driver laptop.

I'm using it on my daily driver. But I'm retired so even if everything crashes it's just a case of rebuilding and I've got plenty of time. However, I made a Foxclone backup before I started and Timeshift is still churning away, largely duplicating what CronShield is doing. Homi runs on a hourly schedule as well. My daily driver desktop runs Mint Cinnamon 21.2, but my testbed laptop runs 22.0; I'm trying it out and awaiting 22.1 before I make the switch on my desktop. I've got a Foxclone backup of the laptop as well, and running CronShield on it. If you want to try CrohShield my advice is not to rely on it as your sole backup. Before you start, make a Foxclone backup. That way if disaster happens you can always do a full restore with Foxclone and wait for the software updates to download. CronShield has lots of possibilities but since it's in Beta there's likely to be glitches. No guarantees it's a fully tested system; thus the Beta label.

[fstjohn]

What part of flatpaks, etc is system files and not data?

Dunno; but I trust Tony, who knows more about Linux than I'll ever think of knowing.

[fstjohn]

I reported my problem to Tony George, and it was PEBCAK. I read through the announcement, scrolled up to find the installation command, and used the "Restoring from Live USB" command instead of the "Try the BETA" command. Bangs head on desk....

Yeah, I did exactly the same thing the first time. I asked Tony to please make ist plain that the first command line is strictly to use for restoration, not backup generation. You don't even need it if you use the supplied iso file, which boots Ubuntu with ChronShield already installed. I put the ChronShield iso on my Ventoy USB stick.

[minthelp777]

I think I'm following you guys... On this page (https://teejeetech.com/2024/09/28/chronshield-beta/) it says, under the "Restoring from Live USB" section, to run that command to "install ChronShield on the Live USB system." (wget -O - https://packages.teejeetech.com/install-chronshield-rescue.sh | bash). That just puts ChronShield into the booted instance of the Live USB LM temporarily, correct? In other words, it's not "adding" it to the burnt USB stick. Once a LM ISO is burnt to a USB stick there's no way to add software to it, is there?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...Once a LM ISO is burnt to a USB stick there's no way to add software to it, is there?

It depends. Most live discs (sticks in this case), yes. However, Ventoy is a type of live disc that will allow you to have have Multiple ISOs on it that you can choose to run from a menu. I currently have eight ISOs on each of my four Ventoy sticks. I have two identical sticks in my desk drawer for use with my desktop computer and two more in my laptop bag. The reason for two for each machine is so I have a backup if one stick should die on me (it's been known to happen).