[LAPTOP] Use Timeshift to accelerate and install/setup?

[Tom_ZeCat]

I have Kubuntu 20.04 LTS on my Dell desktop PC, but I also have a Lenovo laptop with the same OS-distro, but I rarely use it. Everything is hopelessly out of date on the laptop, and then when I tried to run the updates, everything just timed out. I may be traveling soon, and therefore I'll need to use the laptop. The thought of having to reinstall Kubuntu and then do all of my settings and install off of my applications makes me cringe.

It makes me wonder if there's a shortcut. Can I just install 20.04 LTS and Timeshift on the laptop -- and then I use Timesshift to restore the latest snapshot from the desktop?

Will this work? Do it that way and then the laptop is all set up just like my desktop already is -- all the same settings and applications? My data is not an issue. All my work files I save on external thumb drives, and then I back those up to other external thumb drives. I will be using all the same applications on my laptop with the exception of Plex, and I imagine I could just uninstall it on the laptop.

This will work, won't it? My other thought was to make a Clonezilla image, but Clonezilla is considerably harder to use than Timeshift. Plus, I have some junk files on my hard drive that don't need to come over. All my important work files are on thumb drives, but I do have some data files that are mainly downloaded images and PDFs that aren't important to me and thus don't need to be on the laptop.

[claydoh]

Not with Timeshift. it specifically doesn't support that sort of thing, saving snapshots to external sources. Maybe look at Snapper.

I am even not sure if you can do this from a different drive, unless they are identical? The gurus hopefully can chime in.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Not with Timeshift. it specifically doesn't support that sort of thing, saving snapshots to external sources. Maybe look at Snapper.

I am even not sure if you can do this from a different drive, unless they are identical? The gurus hopefully can chime in.

Well, I save the snapshots of my desktop to an external hard drive. My thought is to install Timeshift on the laptop and then plug that same external hard drive into the laptop and then restore the snapshot from that external hard drive.

[claydoh]

So, you mean Timeshift's Rsync backups, as opposed to the btrfs filesystem snapshots I take it?
That method is simply copying files, not doing any sort of actual snapshot, so sure, it should work fine - as long as the user accounts are identical, to keep things as simple as possible.

This is no different from doing a clean install and then copying your saved files over. This will copy all your settings and data, whatever is found in your home directories (or whatever you are backing up). But it won't bring over any of your installed applications at all, those are all outside your $HOME. You would still need to install those, and configure any system level services you may have, etc.

[claydoh]

Now, on the other hand, if you keep a separate /home partition, then actually your idea of using clonezilla is actually a good one - use that to clone the OS partition, use the leftover free space to create a new /home and swap etc, THEN use Timeshift to copy the settings etc back to the new /home;. You probably have to tweak the fstab for the new partition, maybe, likely. I am sure I have dome exactly this at some point, though not for Kubuntu or neon, and not during any recent eras.

[Don B. Cilly]

The way I use Timeshift to restore a snapshot is:
Boot from USB live ISO. Install Timeshift. Plug in external drive with snapshots. Restore.

Thing is, if you restore a desktop snapshot to a laptop, all your hardware will be out of whack.
A few reboots may fix it, they may not.
Probably easier to try the updates time and again with sudo apt update and sudo apt full-upgrade --fix-missing

[claydoh]

But can you restore an rsync snapshot to a blank drive, no boot partitions, or a completely different file system?
You's still need an OS installed or something, correct? I am under the impression it needs something to compare to, since it backs up files and then their changes, as opposed to cloning file systems.