Backup and restore Linux Ubuntu Systems. Install TimeShift on Ubuntu 15.04 and Ubuntu 14.04. TimeShift (System Restore feature in Windows) is a system backup and restore application for Linux Ubuntu Systems.
TimeShift for Linux is similar to the System Restore feature in Windows and the Time Machine tool in Mac OS. TimeShift protects Linux Systems system by creating backup. TimeShift is a system restore utility which takes incremental snapshots of the file system using rsync and hard-links at regular intervals. These snapshots can be restored later to bring your system to the exact state it was in at the time when the snapshot was taken. Each snapshot is a full system backup that can be browsed with a file manager.
TimeShift is designed to protect only system files and settings. User files such as documents, pictures and music are excluded. This ensures that your files remains unchanged when you restore your system to an earlier date. If you need a tool to backup your documents and files please take a look at the excellent BackInTime application which is more configurable and provides options for saving user files.
Snapshots can be restored either from the running system or from a live CD. Restoring backups from the running system requires a reboot to complete the restore process. Snapshots can be taken manually or at regular intervals using scheduled jobs.
Install Timeshift on Ubuntu
Run the following commands in Terminal to install TimesShift, via PPA on Ubuntu Systems:
$ sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install timeshift
Other Linux Distributions
Download the installer from following links:
timeshift-latest-i386.run (32-bit, 170 KB)
timeshift-latest-amd64.run (64-bit, 180 KB)
Run it from a terminal window using the following commands:
./timeshift-latest-i386.run #32-bit
./timeshift-latest-amd64.run #64-bit
Depending on the distribution that you are using, you may need to install packages for the following dependencies:
libgee json-glib rsync
Un-Install
Run the following command in a terminal window:
$ sudo apt-get remove timeshift
or
$ sudo timeshift-uninstall
Please delete all snapshots before un-installing. Otherwise the snapshots will take up space on disk.
To delete all snapshots, run the application, select all snapshots from the list (CTRL+A) and click the Delete button on the toolbar. This will delete all snapshots and remove the /timeshift folder in the root directory.
If you used the installer to install TimeShift, you can remove the installed files with following command:
$ sudo timeshift-uninstall