How can I Install and configure Snapper and Btrfs assistent or another backup software on Fedora?

Ask Fedora
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1

I would like a software that can perform automatic backups on Fedora. Although I have Timeshift, apparently it needs to be configured on Fedora by changing the names of the partitions, and I’m not really in the mood to do that. I would like to know if there is any other software capable of doing the same for Fedora. I saw that Snapper and Btrfs Assistant apparently can do it, but I don’t really know how to install and configure them. Could someone help me? Or let me know if there is an easier way to back up the system.

2

btrfs snap shots are not backup in the sense that when the disk fails you lost the snapshots as well as everything else.

A backup needs to go to some external disk or server.

3

For backing up personal files, as @barryascott said snapper is not an ideal solution. Your options include:

  • Pika backup which is easy to use, has good features, and uses BorgBackup internally, so it’s reliable and space-efficient. I would recommend this option in general.
  • Vorta also uses Borg, slightly more flexible than Pika while being slightly less easy to use.
  • Deja Dup lacks some features and uses the Duplicity backend. I’ve heard it can be easier than Pika for backing up to certain cloud services.

Snapper is useful for taking snapshots of the system, so that if something gets corrupted, you can revert to an earlier snapshot and get a working system. To use it, install the Btrfs Assistant from a graphical app store or using

sudo dnf install btrfs-assistant

Then open it and head over to the Snapper Settings tab, create a new config, and go from there. Note that Btrfs Assistant has a weird bug that prevents you from opening flatpaks after you open it, until you logout and back in.

4

I have been happy with btrbk for this purpose. It’s in the Fedora repos. It creates snapshots on the same drive, but can also send them to another drive so they truly are backups.

btrbk

I also use restic to back up my most important files to the cloud:

restic

5

You can use backintime for this as you can easily configure it for automatic backups. The only requirement for that is that cron is running as the program uses that for scheduling the backups.

6

btrfs-assistantis in flatpak and in the Fedora repos.

I use both Nextcloud for backups and I use restic (to BackBlaze B2) to backup my Nextcloud.