Keep my config in 24.04

[claydoh]

To take snapshots manually, you would need to mount the root file system. Try this: open Konsole and create a mount point for the root file system like this:

sudo mkdir /subvols

Then open /etc/fstab with Kate and copy the mount line from above and paste it in the file. Then edit it so it looks like th

Or use Timeshift?
None of those above setps are necessary, though of course there are dozens of ways to skin the cat, I am sure. I think Timeshift does this, or similar, when the app is opened or a snapshot is being made.

So hypothetically, if I want to do a reinstallation again and I want to home directory intact?

think a little bit differently.
Instead of a reinstallation, you roll your root back to a snapshot using Timeshiftm if you dont care for using the command line. That snapshot can well be the one you made just after a fresh install and have installed your applications and tools. Just skip restoring your home.

One thing to keep in mind. A snapshot that places recovery data on the same physical drive as where the data originated is NOT a backup file; it is a recovery file

I wholly agree. Keeping a separate home partition is the same as keeping snapshots, in this regard.

btrfs lacks useful GUI tools for sending snapshots to a different drive, for actual backup purposes.
While it is supposedly sommewhat straightforward on the command line, I have myself not been successful in doing so, though I did not spend a lot of time trying to figure out why, or what I was doing incorrectly. Using btrfs send/receive is not useful for my recovery/backup strategies, at least not at the moment.


My perfect all-in-one tool would be for Kup backup to include automated snapshots on btrfs systems, on top of the synced and versioned backups with multiple plans and scheduling it already has.

[Gromm]

Well then, I do believe I have all the info/knowledge I need. Yesterday I have re-installed some more machines that are in use here for several tasks. Those are not full of data, neither are they dual-boot like my main-machine.
Perhaps I might want to check as well out how it works for me to divide the / and /home manually with EXT4. The advantage of doing things manually is that "you see what you do". Furthermore, I just realised I asked a similar question somewhere in 2023.
For now I'll leave you all in peace and thank you.

[jlittle]

Note that the entry in /etc/fstab for the Linux root / doesn't mean much; to access /etc/fstab / must already be mounted; the boot loader tells the kernel where to find /.

Note also that the btrfs root is not the Linux root. I took a while to grok that when I started using btrfs.

[oshunluvr]

One thing to keep in mind. A snapshot that places recovery data on the same physical drive as where the data originated is NOT a backup file; it is a recovery file.

That's not a BTRFS thing. That's an "any kind of backup" thing and sage advice to anyone making a backup of any file system.

[oshunluvr]

Or use Timeshift?

I've never used Timeshift and didn't know it had a manual snapshot feature. I was a very early adopter of BTRFS and those 3rd party tools were disastrous at the beginning.

Note that the entry in /etc/fstab for the Linux root / doesn't mean much; to access /etc/fstab / must already be mounted; the boot loader tells the kernel where to find /.

As I said - to manually take snapshots. AFAIK know, there no way to manually take a snapshot without mounting the root fs so mounting it is meaningful in that context. My self-written snapshot and backup script has a "feature" to mount and unmount the root fs if one wished to not have it mounted all the time. However, I know of no contraindication to just leaving it mounted.

In my case since I have 5 installs on my BTRFS file system, it's helpful to have it mounted all the time so I don't have to do that in the event I want to access another installs files. This also speeds up reaching "back in time" to review or recover an edited or deleted file still living in a snapshot.

[claydoh]

I've never used Timeshift and didn't know it had a manual snapshot feature. I was a very early adopter of BTRFS and those 3rd party tools were disastrous at the beginning.

Myself, I have never not used Timeshift for snapshots, manual or scheduled, since I moved to btrfs, maybe ~4 years ago? I can't recall exactly when. Zero issues with the application, no accessing and restoring snapshots.

There is another tool, btrfs-assistant, that I have looked at and may move to with my next clean install, but this isn't available in Ubuntu LTS. It uses snapper, and has manual balance and scrub buttons. and works with all subvolumes/drives, and not just @ and @home, which is all the purposefully-simple Timeshift does.

[Gromm]

Good morning everyone,
Anyway: I have my Kubuntu 24.04 installation up and running. With the BTRFS setug op de harddrive I should be able to keep my settings as has been told here. New problems have risen but I'll make a new topic for that....

[jglen490]

Having a running install is ALWAYS a good thing