Posts by mamema

i´ve now tried rsnapshot. this is working. so, not quite clear atm where the differences are between timeshift and rsnapshot, but, yeah.

another thought on this.

As my mount points (organized by omv) are:

sda 59,5G

└─sda1 / dae17ef8-cada-4c5c-8294-ce2808d117ef ext4 59,5G

sdb /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-4adfd430-b4ac-40a0-915a-e67d 4adfd430-b4ac-40a0-915a-e67da709ee58 ext4 931G

sdc /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-ba5fe150-668e-4d4d-98c9-4c8e ba5fe150-668e-4d4d-98c9-4c8eaa01ddb1 ext4 893,8G

sdd /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-add3374b-2b94-4860-b4be-4ab2 add3374b-2b94-4860-b4be-4ab2cc1a14c4 ext4 931G

sde /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-5fc9ca21-e061-43b7-956e-ad45 5fc9ca21-e061-43b7-956e-ad4530828725 ext4 27,3T

sdf 893,8G

└─sdf1 /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-b25a43ce-1347-4c2c-92dd-7243 b25a43ce-1347-4c2c-92dd-7243514601df ext4 893,7G

and i have sde choosen as backup device, mounted under /srv/ isn´t / part of this and because of that always excluded?

thanks for your time

Quote from ryecoaaron

No need to delete the config file or do anything from the command line. The saltstack code overwrites the entire config file whenever it runs.

Are you saving and then applying?

Which tab? I don't know what you mean by "whatever filesystem". You can't select a filesystem to create a snapshot from any tab since snapshots will always use the backup device on the Settings tab. If you are selecting a "filesystem", that is only done to delete or revert to a snapshot.

I ran an on-demand snapshot on my system and it did not change the config file.

Display More

yes of course applying.

the only tab i can forcefully create a snapshot is in "on-demand". there i have 6 filesystems to choose from. Doesn´t matter what i choose. fails everytime. And everytime i have /** in the conf then.

>I ran an on-demand snapshot on my system and it did not change the config file.

good for you. On my system it fails constantly and i have constantly /** in it then.

I´m happy toprovide more logs. as the constant fail is perhaps connected to the changing of the conf file.

it´s very easy to reproduce. Every time the same

- delete config .conf file (do this only to show the case)

- create a backup filessystem setting in the Timeshift settings in the gui

- check if the conf now exists on command line.

- it exists without /**

- go back into the gui and create a snapshot from whatever filesystem

- fails

- check conf file again

- /** is in the conf file

it´s fast again, thanks for fixing

Quote from ryecoaaron

https://github.com/OpenMediaVa…22717d28cca08be64c939cfd7

I will release when I get a chance later.

the difference now is, that the (omv used) uuid is in the config file.
When the config is newly created /** isn´t in there, but as soon as i choose any source in "on -demand", the /** is back in the file:

cat /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json

{

"backup_device_uuid" : "add3374b-2b94-4860-b4be-4ab2cc1a14c4",

"parent_device_uuid" : "",

"do_first_run" : "false",

"btrfs_mode" : "false",

"include_btrfs_home_for_backup" : "false",

"include_btrfs_home_for_restore" : "false",

"stop_cron_emails" : "false",

"schedule_monthly" : "false",

"schedule_weekly" : "false",

"schedule_daily" : "false",

"schedule_hourly" : "false",

"schedule_boot" : "false",

"count_monthly" : "0",

"count_weekly" : "0",

"count_daily" : "0",

"count_hourly" : "0",

"count_boot" : "0",

"date_format" : "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",

"exclude" : [

"/srv/**",

"/home/**",

"/**",

"/var/lib/libvirt/**",

"/opt/splunkforwarder/**",

"/root/**",

"/home/placeholder/**"

],

"exclude-apps" : []

which leads to the same error alredy reported above.

i´m glad i was able to help to bring this up

one after another:

sudo omv-salt deploy run timeshiftt

debian:

----------

ID: configure_timeshift

Function: file.managed

Name: /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json

Result: True

Comment: File /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json updated

Started: 15:11:36.837499

Duration: 221.091 ms

Changes:

----------

diff:

---

+++

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@

{

- "backup_device_uuid" : "add3374b-2b94-4860-b4be-4ab2cc1a14c4",

+ "backup_device_uuid" : "HDD",

"parent_device_uuid" : "",

"do_first_run" : "false",

"btrfs_mode" : "false",

@@ -16,15 +16,13 @@

"count_daily" : "0",

"count_hourly" : "0",

"count_boot" : "0",

+ "snapshot_size" : "0",

+ "snapshot_count" : "0",

"date_format" : "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",

"exclude" : [

"/srv/**",

"/home/**",

- "/**",

- "/var/lib/libvirt/**",

- "/opt/splunkforwarder/**",

- "/home/placeholder/**",

"/root/**"

],

"exclude-apps" : []

-}+}

mode:

0644

Summary for debian

------------

Succeeded: 1 (changed=1)

Failed: 0

------------

Total states run: 1

Total run time: 221.091 ms

----

cat /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json

{

"backup_device_uuid" : "HDD",

"parent_device_uuid" : "",

"do_first_run" : "false",

"btrfs_mode" : "false",

"include_btrfs_home_for_backup" : "false",

"include_btrfs_home_for_restore" : "false",

"stop_cron_emails" : "false",

"schedule_monthly" : "false",

"schedule_weekly" : "false",

"schedule_daily" : "false",

"schedule_hourly" : "false",

"schedule_boot" : "false",

"count_monthly" : "0",

"count_weekly" : "0",

"count_daily" : "0",

"count_hourly" : "0",

"count_boot" : "0",

"snapshot_size" : "0",

"snapshot_count" : "0",

"date_format" : "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",

"exclude" : [

"/srv/**",

"/home/**",

"/root/**"

],

"exclude-apps" : []

}

____

sudo timeshift --create --comment "manually created from plugin" --scripted --debug

D: Main()

D:

D: Running Timeshift v22.11.2

D:

D: Session log file: /var/log/timeshift/2025-07-18_15-13-29_ondemand.log

D: Distribution: debian "12"

D: DIST_ID: debian

D: Main: check_dependencies()

D: Main: add_default_exclude_entries()

D: Main: add_default_exclude_entries(): exit

D: update_partitions()

D: df -T -B1

D: Device: get_disk_space_using_df(): 6

D: Device: get_mounted_filesystems_using_mtab(): 6

D: Device: get_filesystems(): 1033

D: partition list updated

D: detect_system_devices()

D: / is mapped to device: /dev/sda1, UUID=dae17ef8-cada-4c5c-8294-ce2808d117ef

D: Searching subvolume for system at path: /

D: Users: dockeruser libvirt-qemu splunkfwd root placeholder

D: Encrypted home users:

D: Encrypted home dirs:

D: Encrypted private dirs:

D: Main: load_app_config()

App config loaded: /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json

D: IconManager: init()

D: found images directory: /usr/share/timeshift/images

D: Main(): ok

D: AppConsole: parse_arguments()

D: Main: initialize_repo()

D: backup_uuid=HDD

D: backup_parent_uuid=

D: Setting snapshot device from config file

D: repo: creating from uuid

D: SnapshotRepo: from_uuid(): RSYNC

D: uuid=HDD

D: SnapshotRepo: init_from_device()

D:

D: SnapshotRepo: unlock_and_mount_devices()

D: device=/dev/sde

D: SnapshotRepo: unlock_and_mount_device()

D: device=/dev/sde

D: Device: get_mounted_filesystems_using_mtab(): 6

D: ------------------

D: arg=5fc9ca21-e061-43b7-956e-ad4530828725, device=/dev/sde

D: /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-5fc9ca21-e061-43b7-956e-ad4530828725

D: ------------------

D: Device: get_mounted_filesystems_using_mtab(): 6

Mounted '/dev/sde' at '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup'

D: SnapshotRepo: load_snapshots()

D: loading snapshots from '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots': 0 found

D: SnapshotRepo: unlock_and_mount_device(): exit

D: Selected snapshot device: /dev/sde

D: Free space: 17.8 TB

D: SnapshotRepo: check_status()

D: SnapshotRepo: available()

D: is_available: ok

D: SnapshotRepo: has_snapshots()

D: SnapshotRepo: has_space() - 0 required (0 B)

D: df -T -B1 '/dev/sde'

D: Device: get_disk_space_using_df(): 1

D: no snapshots

D: SnapshotRepo: check_status(): exit

D: SnapshotRepo: init_from_device(): exit

D: SnapshotRepo: from_uuid(): exit

D: Main: initialize_repo(): exit

D: AppConsole: start_application()

D: Main: create_snapshot()

D: SnapshotRepo: has_space() - 0 required (0 B)

D: df -T -B1 '/dev/sde'

D: Device: get_disk_space_using_df(): 1

D: no snapshots

D: Main: backup_and_rotate()

D: SnapshotRepo: available()

D: is_available: ok

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimating system size...

D: estimate_system_size()

D: Using temp dir '/tmp/48w2AYsT'

D: Main: save_exclude_list_for_backup()

D: Main: create_exclude_list_for_backup()

D: Main: create_exclude_list_for_backup(): exit

D: export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 ; rsync -ai --delete --numeric-ids --relative --stats --dry-run --delete-excluded --exclude-from='/tmp/48w2AYsT/exclude.list' /. '/tmp/48w2AYsT/empty' &> '/tmp/48w2AYsT/rsync.log'

D: First snapshot size: 28.8 GB

D: File count: 18

D: Main: save_app_config()

D: SnapshotRepo: available()

D: is_available: ok

D: SnapshotRepo: has_snapshots()

App config saved: /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json

D: estimate_system_size(): ok

Creating new snapshot...(RSYNC)

Saving to device: /dev/sde, mounted at path: /run/timeshift/3997672/backup

D: Main: save_exclude_list_for_backup()

D: Main: create_exclude_list_for_backup()

D: Main: create_exclude_list_for_backup(): exit

Syncing files with rsync...

D: RsyncTask:execute()

D: export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8

rsync -aii --recursive --verbose --delete --force --stats --sparse --delete-excluded --log-file='/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots/2025-07-18_15-13-31/rsync-log' --exclude-from='/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots/2025-07-18_15-13-31/exclude.list' --delete-excluded '/' '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots/2025-07-18_15-13-31/localhost/'

D: RsyncTask:prepare(): saved: /tmp/48w2AYsT/2025-07-18_15-13-31/script.sh

D: AsyncTask: child_pid: 3997895

D: AsyncTask: finish(): enter

D: exit_code: 0

E: rsync returned an error

E: Failed to create new snapshot

Failed to create snapshot

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D: SnapshotRepo: load_snapshots()

D: loading snapshots from '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots': 0 found

D: SnapshotRepo: auto_remove()

D: SnapshotRepo: remove_untagged()

D: SnapshotRepo: load_snapshots()

D: loading snapshots from '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots': 0 found

D: SnapshotRepo: load_snapshots()

D: loading snapshots from '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots': 0 found

Removing snapshots (incomplete):

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Removing '2025-07-18_15-13-31'...

D: RsyncTask:execute()

D: rm -rfv '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots/2025-07-18_15-13-31/'

D: RsyncTask:prepare(): saved: /tmp/48w2AYsT/2025-07-18_15-13-32/script.sh

D: AsyncTask: child_pid: 3998046

D: AsyncTask: finish(): enter

D: exit_code: 0

Removed '2025-07-18_15-13-31'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D: SnapshotRepo: load_snapshots()

D: loading snapshots from '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots': 0 found

D: SnapshotRepo: load_snapshots()

D: loading snapshots from '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots': 0 found

D: rm -rf "/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots-boot/"

D: rm -rf "/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots-hourly/"

D: rm -rf "/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots-daily/"

D: rm -rf "/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots-weekly/"

D: rm -rf "/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots-monthly/"

D: rm -rf "/run/timeshift/3997672/backup/timeshift/snapshots-ondemand/"

D: Symlinks updated

D: exit_app()

D: crontab -l

D: crontab -l

D: unmount_target_device()

D: clean_logs()

D: rm -rf '/tmp/48w2AYsT'

D: cleanup_unmount_devices()

D: df -T -B1

D: Device: get_disk_space_using_df(): 6

D: Device: get_mounted_filesystems_using_mtab(): 6

D: Device: get_filesystems(): 1033

D:

Found stale mount for device '/dev/sde' at path '/run/timeshift/3997672/backup'

D: Unmounted successfully

no didn´t change it back. And i thought in need to remove the excluding /** because it was still there even after your command

- removed plugin

- removed .conf file

- reinstalled

- checked config conf file no /** in there

- added large non boot backup filesystem
- selected an filesystem in on-demand

- snapshot failed

- checked config conf file /** in there

real 0m0,916s

user 0m0,578s

sys 0m0,178s

..but as reported, this runs fast. But the gui is slow....

i´ve now removed the line "/**", from the /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json file

applied sudo omv-salt deploy run timeshift

made a On-demand snapshot afterwards

got:

ounted '/dev/sda1' at '/run/timeshift/2349446/backup'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimating system size...
Creating new snapshot...(RSYNC)
Saving to device: /dev/sda1, mounted at path: /run/timeshift/2349446/backup
Syncing files with rsync... 0.00% complete (??? remaining) E: rsync returned an error
E: Failed to create new snapshot
Failed to create snapshot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removing snapshots (incomplete):
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removing '2025-07-17_21-16-46'... 0.00% complete (??? remaining) Removed '2025-07-17_21-16-46'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

END OF LINE

█

or the same on other /dev/sdx filesystems

udo omv-salt deploy run timeshift

debian:

----------

ID: configure_timeshift

Function: file.managed

Name: /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json

Result: True

Comment: File /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json updated

Started: 19:42:15.958198

Duration: 210.154 ms

Changes:

----------

diff:

---

+++

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@

{

- "backup_device_uuid" : "5fc9ca21-e061-43b7-956e-ad4530828725",

+ "backup_device_uuid" : "HDD",

"parent_device_uuid" : "",

"do_first_run" : "false",

"btrfs_mode" : "false",

@@ -16,15 +16,13 @@

"count_daily" : "0",

"count_hourly" : "1",

"count_boot" : "0",

+ "snapshot_size" : "0",

+ "snapshot_count" : "0",

"date_format" : "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",

"exclude" : [

"/srv/**",

"/home/**",

- "/**",

- "/var/lib/libvirt/**",

- "/opt/splunkforwarder/**",

- "/home/placeholder/**",

"/root/**"

],

"exclude-apps" : []

-}+}

Summary for debian

------------

Succeeded: 1 (changed=1)

Failed: 0

------------

Total states run: 1

Total run time: 210.154 ms

should i delete or modify the config file?

Quote from ryecoaaron

you are excluding every directory in / with the /** line. So, timeshift can't snapshot anything.

ummhh!, no!, i´ve added/changed nothing to the default configuration. I don´t see this in the settings screen

cat /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json

{

"backup_device_uuid" : "5fc9ca21-e061-43b7-956e-ad4530828725",

"parent_device_uuid" : "",

"do_first_run" : "false",

"btrfs_mode" : "false",

"include_btrfs_home_for_backup" : "false",

"include_btrfs_home_for_restore" : "false",

"stop_cron_emails" : "false",

"schedule_monthly" : "false",

"schedule_weekly" : "false",

"schedule_daily" : "false",

"schedule_hourly" : "true",

"schedule_boot" : "false",

"count_monthly" : "0",

"count_weekly" : "0",

"count_daily" : "0",

"count_hourly" : "1",

"count_boot" : "0",

"date_format" : "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",

"exclude" : [

"/srv/**",

"/home/**",

"/**",

"/var/lib/libvirt/**",

"/opt/splunkforwarder/**",

"/home/placeholder/**",

"/root/**"

],

Quote from ryecoaaron

I have never tested creating a snapshot of the OS on the OS partition. Can you try a different disk for the backup?

thats the point i´m struggling. I do not want to create a snapshot ON the boot drive, i want to create one FROM the boot drive.

so i´ve set a large partition on the settings screen (not the boot drive), then in On-Demand snapshot i´ve selected the boot drive and got the error which i´ve reported here. But i can also select different partitions (eg filesystems - all ext4) in on-demand snapshots and all of them fail with the same error.

Perhaps it´s a user error, but it´s not that much to configure, so i do not see what i´m doing wrong.

it is indeed on /dev/sda1, is an SDCARD from Dell on a Dell Server and is EXT4 with 32 GB in size.

and can i provide some logs as it isn´t working on my system (see above)?

think about using this plugin and have a few remaining points to clarify.
As described it is a "clone" to "simulate" what Windows systems have included out of the box. So to can go back, when a system update isn´t what you wanted etc.

Here my question starts. What is defined as "System" and what gets snapshotted?

For example because of space requirements i have symlinked /var/lib/docker to a larger drive away from / (root).

So does timeshift follow symlinks?

Are those additional things like docker or libvirt defined as part of the system?

Is there a "dry run" mode available, so i can see whats get into the snapshot and what not?

I don´t quite understand the interface yet.

Settings screen talks about backup device. What does this actually mean?

- The device which gets snapshotted?

- The device which saved the snapshots?

- both

The link posted by somebody (dev-site?) tells, there will be a timedhift folder, normally on / (this would be bad in my case, as this has 32 GB. I want to have the snapshots on a different drive. As i have difficulties to understand the settings page, i don´t know where to configure this.

If i assume, that the settings screen is configuring the destination, and the "on demand snapshot" selects the source, then i´ve configured the largest drive as destination and my 32gb boot drive as source and got this:

ounted '/dev/sda1' at '/run/timeshift/3727395/backup'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimating system size...
Creating new snapshot...(RSYNC)
Saving to device: /dev/sda1, mounted at path: /run/timeshift/3727395/backup
Syncing files with rsync... 0.00% complete (??? remaining) E: rsync returned an error
E: Failed to create new snapshot
Failed to create snapshot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removing snapshots (incomplete):
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Removing '2025-07-16_14-17-21'... 0.00% complete (??? remaining) Removed '2025-07-16_14-17-21'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

END OF LINE

█

BTW i have this only since the new "colourful" process presentation.

If no optimization is possible, then perhaps the old view (selectable) would be a solution, cause there i hadn´t this lagging.