Timeshift alternative for Fedora (btrfs)

Ask Fedora
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I’m looking for a backup solution like timeshift. I’d been using timeshift (GUI) on Linux Mint for backup, it was simple took backups automatically. I thought it would work the same with Fedora, during setup it was not taking btrfs as backup method, so I set it as rsync. Everything was fine (coz I didn’t knew it won’t work on fedora) until I formatted my system for a fresh install, and I was not able to restore the system.

I looked up about it, some reddit posts said you need to modify something in fedora for it to work.

I’m looking for something as simple as timeshift, which gets the job done.

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Btrbk and snapper. I would love to make it work easily.

Fedora Atomic Desktops have the btrfs snapshots integrated (using libostree), but there is no easy or even GUI way to do these.

3

On Arch I use snapper and btrfs-assistant. I haven’t tried on Fedora. I guess they’re available.

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In what way? The rollback feature of Silverblue and atomic variants has nothing to do with btrfs or snapshots. It’s all libostree.
[Edit] I ask because I haven’t been using Silverblue or any other atomic variant for awhile as my daily driver, so things have very likely changed.

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Yes both are available from the repos.

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I still like Borg backup (https://www.borgbackup.org/), and it’s GUI companion Vorta GitHub - borgbase/vorta: Desktop Backup Client for Borg Backup.
[Edit] Although, Timeshift is available in the Fedora repos …

[jakfrost ~]$ dnf search timeshift
Last metadata expiration check: 1 day, 18:28:03 ago on Tue 19 Mar 2024 02:46:39 PM.
================================================================================================ Name Exactly Matched: timeshift ================================================================================================
timeshift.x86_64 : System restore tool for Linux
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Afaik timeshift has BTRFS functionality.

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It has, but it expects btrfs volume to be named “@”, while Fedora names it differently, “root”, so, to use Timeshift, you have to tweak BTRFS volumes.

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Hmm, wouldnt tweaking the Fedora Timeshift package make more sense? I have no experience in CI/CD, but that sounds like a pretty small change.

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Timeshift expects btrfs volume to be named “@”, which could only be done during the system install, and i really do not want to reinstall my system and setup everything again. @lorebett @boredsquirrel @jakfrost

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Is there an easy guide (i.e. for novices!) anywhere to setup

Btrbk and snapper

or is there any other easy way to take backups in fedora workstation (I’m using the kde spin).

Thank you for your patience and support.

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I felt a little overwelmed by the guide in Vorta’s github page. I do not understand what are the repositories and the ssh keys, how do I setup those, if I want to back-up my system to an external HDD? Can you please share a guide which a novice could understand. (I’m using the kde spin workstation.)

Thank you for your patience and support.

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Hello @mihir ,
I would start by looking at Local Backups | Vorta for BorgBackup to begin. It is a bit of reading but is the method you are wanting (local storage to an external drive connected to your PC. From my quick look at it, I think the instructions are pretty straight forward. Using Vorta (the desktop client program for Borg Backup) makes it easy to start backing your system with Borg. I did write a Fedora Magazine article about using Borg Backup on Fedora Silverblue (F29) which is still relevant and was pretty well explained for setting up a local borg backup using encryption (which borg requires). It can be found at Backup on Fedora Silverblue with Borg - Fedora Magazine

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Kde native you also have kup.

In general there are 2 different backup types

  • file-by-file backups that are readable (like rsync, kup, freefilesync)
  • archive backups: these are more advanced and can often only be read by the backup app easily.

I heard Pika Backup (from flathub for example) is good.

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Vorta / BorgBackup doesn’t backup /etc because of root permissions.
You can only see that in the logs. There is no easy solution to that.

I use it, but I’m not happy about that part. I’m no programmer or Linux expert, but I would like a full backup if my system would crash.

17

rsync works fine. It is CLI but you can use the manual.

sudo rsync -SOMEARGUMENTS --delete /origin /target

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