Btrfs snapshots with Timeshit in grub

[arnauld]

Hi,

I installed Timeshift on EndeavourOS (btrfs+grub). I followed this tutorial https://discovery.endeavouros.com/encrypted-installation/btrfs-with-timeshift-snapshots-on-the-grub-menu/2022/02/ and it is working well.

However, each time I take a snapshot with Timeshift it doesn’t show in the grub unless I rebuild the grub.cfg with : sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

How can I automate this?

Also, reading the forum, I stumbled upon people using btrfs-assistant. Is it any good? Should I use it rather than Timeshift?

Thank you.

[BluishHumility]

@arnauld

How can I automate this?

Did you enable the service mentioned in the guide?

sudo systemctl enable --now grub-btrfsd

@arnauld

Also, reading the forum, I stumbled upon people using btrfs-assistant. Is it any good?

Yes, it is amazing! It makes subvolume, snapshot, and Btrfs filesystem maintenance practically trivial, even some advanced functions. It really is one of the best apps, so well done and useful.

@arnauld

Should I use it rather than Timeshift?

You may be conflating Btrfs Assistant and Snapper. In my opinion Snapper is better than Timeshift because it is more featureful and can be more precisely controlled, but it is just my opinion. Some folks maintain that Timeshift is easier to understand.

Btrfs Assistant can be used to manage snapshots from either Snapper or Timeshift.

[arnauld]

@BluishHumility

Did you enable the service mentioned in the guide?

sudo systemctl enable --now grub-btrfsd

Thank you. Yes, I enabled the service. I made a few snapshots to test and realized that the snapshots aren’t all in the grub.

So, when I boot I select one of the snapshots in the grub, that launches EndeavourOS, it automatically opens Timeshift then, select the right snapshot in Timeshit, restore, reboot and voila.

Is it the expected behavior? I thought all the snapshots should be proposed in the grub…

[arnauld]

@BluishHumility

@arnauld

Should I use it rather than Timeshift?

You may be conflating Btrfs Assistant and Snapper. In my opinion Snapper is better than Timeshift because it is more featureful and can be more precisely controlled, but it is just my opinion. Some folks maintain that Timeshift is easier to understand.

What I am looking for is to be able to do snapshots I can then select directly from the grub.

[BluishHumility]

@arnauld

Yes, I enabled the service. I made a few snapshots to test and realized that the snapshots aren’t all in the grub.

Do you have inotify-tools installed?

Other than that, it may be an issue with your configuration. You can read more about some of the configuration options for the service here: https://github.com/Antynea/grub-btrfs#customization-of-the-grub-btrfsd-daemon

@arnauld

What I am looking for is to be able to do snapshots I can then select directly from the grub

This function is provided by grub-btrfs, not Timeshift or Snapper or Btrfs Assistant.

[arnauld]

@BluishHumility

You may be conflating Btrfs Assistant and Snapper. In my opinion Snapper is better than Timeshift because it is more featureful and can be more precisely controlled, but it is just my opinion. Some folks maintain that Timeshift is easier to understand.

Btrfs Assistant can be used to manage snapshots from either Snapper or Timeshift.

Thank you, I tried your way and installed yay -S snapper-support btrfs-assistant which uninstalled Timeshift. Just tested it with a few snapshots and it works perfectly, also the snapshots do appear directly in the grub now.

[stormschip]

Hi,

sudo pacman --noconfirm -Syy && yay --noconfirm -S timeshift timeshift-autosnap grub-btrfs;sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
sudo btrfs quota enable /

works for me

[arnauld]

Thank you! I will stay with snapper and btrfs-assistant.