Additional /home Snapshot to External USB Drive?

General system Newbie
#1

I am more than satisfied with my BTRFS, KDE Plasma, BTRFS Assisitant, Snapper… etc.

I already as explained at Where are my /home Snapper snapshots? did

sudo snapper -c home create-config /home

So, I have now a snapshot of my /home on the local SSD.

I wonder if it is possible to create another config to snapshot /home to an external USB HDD. Well, things happen and I am thinking of this to be sure I have a copy of my data externally.

I would not keep the ext. drive connected all the time of course, but I would connect it occasionally and overnight so I have snapshots of my data.

Would there be a way to access this external USB snapshots through file manager and copy files I need (I remember @dalto previously said it is only possible through BTRFS Assistant, But just wondering if it would be possible as this is an external drive)?

What I found interesting is that there is an app (WinBTRFS) that makes Windoze read and access BTRFS which looks interesting.

Can Windoze with this WinBTRFS browse the snapshots and copy files from snapshots?

Is there or would be there BTRFS Assistant for Windoze?

I know I am asking a lot, but I am sure you agree that best backup for data is for sure not on the same computer. This is why I am trying to find a way to snapshot /home to an external disk.

Thanks for your guidance and answers to these many questions.

UPDATE:
Testing BackInTime now, seems to fit the bill somehow! Though I prefer something within the system/filesystem.

#2

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Btrfs#Incremental_backup_to_external_drive
snap-sync, ruby-snapsync or snapborg might fit your needs

#3

Thank you.
Trying BackInTime second snapshot seems a bit slow!

UPDATE:
borg/snapborg looks really interesting (not really).

#4

It isn’t possible to directly take a btrfs snapshot and place it on another drive. Snapshots, by definition, must live in the same filesystem.

However, you can replicate your snapshots from one filesystem to another. That is what the three tools mentioned above do. Specifically, these three:

Any of those should work for you.

#5

@dalto again for the rescue as usual.
Sorry for being so illiterate.

I am currently looking at the options mentioned by @daniel that you recommended.
I hope I can go through and find something practical.
BackInTime is really slow, while I never had a feeling that snapper is doing any snapshots, it is so fast.

#6

Back in time is using rsync to create copies of all your files. It is a backup tool.

snapper is taking in-filesystem snapshots. It is practically instant.

Replicating snapshots will be in the middle speedwise. The first replication will take a long time but the subsequent replications will be much faster. The first time it runs it has to copy all your data to the external device.

#7

Thats the power of a copy on write filesystem because not data has to be moved for a snapshot. Obtaining the same speed isn’t possible for an external drive that only sometimes gets connected.

#8

Reading the links and websites I understand the three do synchronisation not snapshot. That is if I accidentally deleted a file from source, and it got synced, the file will not be on the target anymore. Am I right?

#9

No. What it is synchronizing, is your snapshots. You basically end up with an exact copy including all the snapshots. So technically the file will be deleted but you will be able to access it via a snapshot that same way you would on the local device as long as you have a retained a snapshot with the file.

The alternative is to use a tool like borg/vorta to take actual backups. But those will be much slower as you noticed with backintime.

#10

I will start and focus on snap-sync for now.

#11

If I may ask another question, please.
Would the synced snapshots to the external USB drive be accessible through a file manager or it will be like the local snapshots and need BTRFS Assistant?

#12

It will be exactly the same as the ones on the source drive. You are basically making a replica of the source drive, including the snapshots.

#13

I see, so it will need BTRFS Assistant installed to be able to handle.
It is OK, but… mmm… I need to research a bit more.

#14

Btrfs Assistant is a convenience but it isn’t required to be able to access snapshots.

#15

Actually BTRFS Assistant made my life easier as I had difficulty accessing the snapshots normally in file manager.
I need something similar to what BackInTime is doing.
Currently in BackInTime I can go to the backup folder(s), find the file, right click, copy wherever I need.

Not that easy with snapper snapshots unfortunately.

#16

In that case, just use backintime

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#17

It seems so (for now). Though I really wished it would be possible with BTRFS and Snapper as I am happy with them on my local drive.

Reading now a bit more about rsync and lsyncd. As far as I read till now there maybe a way.
Thanks a lot @dalto.

Sorry for always asking too much. But I see Endeavour forum and community as a wonderful learning resource. This is one feature that distinguishes our community and our distro.

Thank you for your patience.

#18

Just to update you. BackInTime installed but for some reason it is not taking scheduled snapshots. Only manual snapshots.
Maybe because it is a bit old (last change log 13 years ago!) and the file system is BTRFS. I don’t know. But I can’t tell for sure this is completely true.

But anyway it is OK with me.
Thank you.

#19

Just to update you. BackInTime installed but for some reason it is not taking scheduled snapshots. Only manual snapshots.
Maybe because it is a bit old (last change log 13 years ago!) and the file system is BTRFS. I don’t know.
On GitHub it is still under development.
UPDATE:
I communicated with them on GitHub and I am getting prompt responses!
But anyway it is OK with me.
Thank you.