How to create a backup/snapshot in Fedora 41

Ask Fedora
, , , , ,
1

Hello everyone,

i recently switched from Windows to Fedora 41 Desktop Spin KDE Plasma and would like to know what the best way is to create a snapshot of the system in case something goes wrong. I was not able to find official documentary or a officla guide for this.

I do not have a lot of experience with Linux yet so i appreciate any tips and help regarding this process. Is there a official gui-app or a well known one most people use for this matter or how should i proceed to do a proper snapshot ?

Thanks in advance for the help

Kind regards

2

For data security reasons, Fedora cannot be installed on a partition that contains a Linux OS. The intended target OS partition and associated UEFI partition should be formatted using gparted ahead of time.

When starting with an empty disk, I boot a VenToy USB which allows me to boot a SystemRescue ISO that was copied to a partition on the same USB to provide access to gparted. Before installing Fedora, I copy a Fedora Live ISO to the partition on the USB that contains other ISO’s then I boot the VenToy USB which allows me to boot the Live ISO.

Custom Standard Partition can be chosen during installation to enable selection of ext4 rather than btrfs. Use this option if you want to specify the disk and partition where the OS will be installed. A big advantage of ext4 over btrfs is portability. An ext4 archive of a bootable OS can be restored or migrated to a different disk.

When fsarchiver gets fixed to work with [spring 2023] ext4 changes, it will again be the BEST vehicle for creating, restoring or migrating compressed and encrypted archives of ext4 partitions both OS and data. Until then, the dd command is an option. It requires a target partition of exactly the same size as the source but provides neither compression nor encryption.

Links to info about VenToy, SystemRescue and gparted follow:

Multiple UEFI ESP partitions, Linux Distros and bootable ISOs using one USB NVMe SSD

System Rescue Homepage

How to install Gparted partition editor on Linux

GParted Manual

3

earlier today I was istalling Fedora without removing my previous Linux OS. The installer offered me an option to shrink or remove existing partitions. It gave me a menu where I could select what to shrink or remove. I chose the option to remove the existing Linux partition. Everything went normal, I am now messaging from my new Fedora install.

4

There are GUI apps, but I’m not sure which one(s) (if any) are designed to work with Fedora Linux. If you want to try to do it manually, there is some documentation on how to do that here: Make use of Btrfs snapshots to upgrade Fedora Linux with easy fallback - Fedora Magazine

5

BTRFS Assistant would be a GUI app that is supposed to be working on Fedora.

$ dnf info btrfs-assistant

Name           : btrfs-assistant
Epoch          : 0
Version        : 2.1.1
Release        : 2.fc41
Architecture   : aarch64
Download size  : 188.2 KiB
Installed size : 644.2 KiB
Source         : btrfs-assistant-2.1.1-2.fc41.src.rpm
Repository     : fedora
Summary        : GUI management tool to make managing a Btrfs filesystem easier
URL            : https://gitlab.com/btrfs-assistant/btrfs-assistant
License        : GPL-3.0-or-later
Description    : Btrfs Assistant is a GUI management tool to make managing a Btrfs filesystem
               : easier.
               : 
               : The primary features it offers are:
               : 
               : * An easy to read overview of Btrfs metadata
               : * A simple view of subvolumes with or without Snapper/Timeshift snapshots
               : * Run and monitor scrub and balance operations
               : * A pushbutton method for removing subvolumes
               : * A management front-end for Snapper with enhanced restore functionality
               :     * View, create and delete snapshots
               :     * Restore snapshots in a variety of situations
               :         * When the filesystem is mounted in a different distro
               :         * When booted off a snapshot
               :         * From a live ISO
               :     * View, create, edit, remove Snapper configurations
               :     * Browse snapshots and restore individual files
               :     * Browse diffs of a single file across snapshot versions
               :     * Manage Snapper systemd units
               : * A front-end for Btrfs Maintenance
               :     * Manage systemd units
               :     * Easily manage configuration for defrag, balance and srub settings
Vendor         : Fedora Project
2 Likes
6

Btrfs Assistant is indeed the answer for system snapshots. The UI can be a little unintuitive at first but it’s great once you get used to it. You can also use it to make snapshots of your home directory, though for personal files you’re probably better off using something like Pika Backup, Deja Dup or Vorta.

1 Like
7

Thanks . I managed to do it with snapper + btrfs assistant

1 Like
8

IMHO the only thing that makes a real difference is to have a copy of your own files somewhere not connected to the system. Like two external disks you keep in two different locations. The “roll back” feature is useful when you play with the system itself and you need to get back often and quickly but it is not the case of the classic situation when everything goes wrong, like your disk breaks or an asteroid hits the house.