Using Timeshift for System's Snapshots and Recovery on Debian 12 via Command Line

Timeshift for Linux is an application that provides functionality similar to the System Restore feature in Windows and the Time Machine tool in Mac OS. Timeshift protects your system by taking incremental snapshots of the file system at regular intervals. These snapshots can be restored at a later date to undo all changes to the system.(—I somewhat disagree with this classification.

The maintainers of Timeshift also make this distinction clear:

Timeshift is similar to applications like rsnapshot, BackInTime and TimeVault but with different goals. It is designed to protect only system files and settings. User files such as documents, pictures and music are excluded. This ensures that your files remain unchanged when you restore your system to an earlier date. ( on Reddit. And I proceed with timeshift installation, because I need exactly a snapshot tool, not a backup tool.

Timeshift GUI - a little drawback

Timeshift has a graphical user interface, which, for some, may be a strong advantage, while for others, it might be less appealing (I, for example, prefer terminal or command line interfaces).

The timeshift package depends on lib-gtk-3.0 (

I proceed with creation of new logical volume and mounting it to /timeshift directory:

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# create logical volume with name timeshift in volume group wonderland-vg

lvcreate -L 20G -n timeshift wonderland-vg

#verify creation

lvdisplay

# create a filesystem (all my system is ext4, choose any you use

mkfs.ext4 /dev/wonderland-vg/timeshift

# create a parent directory for snapshots 

mkdir /timeshift

# mount there newly created logical partition

mount /dev/wonderland-vg/timeshift /timeshift

You can configure automount of this logical volume on each boot by modifying /etc/fstab

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#check how new logical volume is stored

ls /dev/mapper

#modify with editor of your choice

vim /etc/fstab

# by adding this entry:

/dev/mapper/wonderland--vg-timeshift /timeshift ext4 defaults 0 2

#check that modified mounting does not give any errors

systemctl daemon-reload

mount -a

Installing Timeshift

Installation of timeshift in Debian is quite straightforward: just run apt install timeshift.

Once selected, your device UUID will be automatically transferred to the config file and when you run next time timeshift --create you will not be asked to select device. If you want to change it, you will have to modify config file and change UUID of a storage. I think the GUI would give more comprehensive control over device selection.

If using Timeshift's GUI is not an option, you can schedule backups using cron jobs or changing false to true in configuration file for schedule_monthly, schedule_weekly, schedule_daily, schedule_hourly (NB! I did not test it!). I don't enable automatic snapshots because, as I mentioned, they’re not true backups, and I don’t need constant snapshotting. I’ll take snapshots manually when necessary (e.g., before major system updates or modifications).

If you're planning to set up automatic snapshots, you should also check the configuration file for the snapshot retention policy.

My system's kernel version before kernel upgrade from bookworm-backports repo:

I have 2 snapshots and I will be using the latest one.

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My system's kernel version after restore:

Summarizing:

Timeshift's Pros:

🦄 Continuously maintained and widely-used snapshotting tool

🦄 Easy management via command line

🦄 Incremental snapshots

🦄 Clearly separates snapshots from backups

🦄 Has an active community

Timeshift's Cons:

🫏 No-GUI (CLI-only) installation is not possible

🫏 Brings many dependencies related to the Xorg display server, which may not be the best for server setups or systems with Wayland

🫏 Limited guides on CLI-only usage, even though it's possible

🫏 Storage destination is bound by UUID, which may be confusing

🫏 Limited identifiers in storage selection when creating the first snapshot, making it harder to choose the correct storage device

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