Linux Lite Forums

General => Introductions => Topic started by: wizardfromoz on October 19, 2022, 02:26:40 AM

Title: G'day Mates
Post by: wizardfromoz on October 19, 2022, 02:26:40 AM

G'day all.  :)

Thought it was about time I signed up here, since I have been using the product since before the UEFI was introduced in the 4.x series.

Also, I am hoping to have someone fast-track me in navigation so that I can post a Thread checking to see if Jerry and the LL Team are aware of a problem for Timeshift that will be coming with the release of Ubuntu's Kinetic Kudu point release imminently.

This, in so far as it might adversely affect a future release of Linux Lite.

Thanks in advance.

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

Title: Re: G'day Mates
Post by: Artim on October 19, 2022, 03:19:14 AM

Hi and welcome!

Timeshift is now being maintained by the team that makes Linux Mint, which is also built from Ubuntu. Whatever changes are made to Timeshift, I'm sure Mint won't develop and release a product that is incompatible with their own distro.

Title: Re: G'day Mates
Post by: Şerban S. on October 19, 2022, 04:22:32 AM

Quote from: wizardfromoz on October 19, 2022, 02:26:40 AM

[...]I have been using the product since before the UEFI was introduced in the 4.x series.[...]

[...]
Hello, Chris! :)
Welcome on the Forum! :)
Glad to have here someone that uses Linux Lite for so long! :)

Quote from: wizardfromoz on October 19, 2022, 02:26:40 AM

[...]a problem for Timeshift[...]

I used TimeShift long before Linux Mint introduced it as the official backup tool of the distro.
Unfortunately, the main "caveeat" of Timeshift -- so to speak -- is the amount of space it requires to do its job.
Compared to CloneZilla, it uses about 10 times more space. Besides that, it takes way too long to backup. In the same amount of time it backups the main partition (/ - Root, about 7 GB of data), I do a full backup of the entire drive, which means some 40 - 50 GB of data.
Having this in mind, I dropped it, shortly after Mint included it as the backup tool of the distro. And this was pretty long ago...
So, from my perspective, I lose nothing whatever changes might occure, on the OS side or on the App's side.
It just does a job that I already do without it and with greater efficiency.
I can go on that further more, like how it backups the /home  partition. I had lots of trouble after restoring with Timeshift, since the backup was incomplete and this lead me into lots of trouble.

On the other hand, having some sort of Windows (...and Mac) functionality within Linux, looks appealing for many people so, I understand this.
Since my beginnings in using a computer were heavily influenced by CLI fdisk and some other Apps like this, I got used to tools that use semi-graphic interfaces (ncurses I guess it's used), like CloneZilla, for one. The Linux variation of the fdisk, worked way faster when formatting large drives (I guess it still applies!), even for MS FS...
Another habit I delopped over the years, is designing the drive partitions "pencil-on-paper" then partitioning and formatting it, using Live GPartEd. I had some trouble using Calamares (Ubiquity seems having the same "desease"...) so I gave up using the internal Partition Manager of both installers.

Restore points
While having Restore Points looks tremendously catchy, going into a deeper analysis, it has its costs. And this is for real.
Wearing off prematurely a storage media, is nothink like "a small inconvenience".
Due to the long working cycle of Timeshift, the drives get hot. And this shortens the life cycle of any kind of media, mostly NAND (SSD, Sticks). All  NAND type media are extremely vulnerable to heat and this dramatically shortens the life of any, starting with the transfer speed. I know this, because I've learned it on my pocket...
So, If you have "PROs" for this backup solution, outline them here.
I just reviewed my experience and did my best to point out towards certain risks we have to accept in order to make a sound decision on how to backup our (critical) data.

Best regards! :)

Title: Re: G'day Mates
Post by: Jerry on October 20, 2022, 02:07:16 AM

Welcome :)

Title: Re: G'day Mates
Post by: Artim on October 20, 2022, 05:16:53 AM

I'm using SystemBack - forked and newly maintained now after a short period of abandonment - in place of Timeshift. Have a look at the new and improved SystemBack here (https://github.com/BluewhaleRobot/systemback).

Title: Re: G'day Mates
Post by: Şerban S. on October 20, 2022, 02:56:46 PM

Quote from: Artim on October 20, 2022, 05:16:53 AM

I'm using SystemBack - forked and newly maintained now after a short period of abandonment - in place of Timeshift. Have a look at the new and improved SystemBack here (https://github.com/BluewhaleRobot/systemback).

I've been keeping an eye on it for years.
One thing it does and it works, and it's very useful: System Live Image.
I've done it, tested it and works! :D
For the rest, it's too soon to say something. It's too risky to work on my current machine. Anyway, here is an intermediate test result:

(https://i.imgur.com/Ai8UuIj.png)

I guess it's easy to figure out how much space it requires: over 60 GB. At this rate, I'd rather skip this feature.
Even if (supposedly) it uses incremental backup, still it eats way too much space.
I stick with CloneZilla and LuckyBackup (rsync).

Best regards! :)