Timeshift: Timeshift Scheduled Snapshot in Progress Forever + Eats up HDD + FAQ

[Areahints]

Describe the bug
After installing timeshift and setting it to backup everything i had on my system, i restarted and discovered my HDD was full (from about 250GB free) When i try to launch timeshift i get the popup "another instance of timeshift is creating a snapshot, please wait a few minutes and try again" i dont know how to find the process and kill it (If you do, tell me)

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Go to '...'
2. Click on '....'
3. Error message

Expected behavior
I should be able to run timeshift and interrupt or modify its behaviour, not wait for it

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

System:

• Linux Distribution Name and Version: [e.g. Ubuntu 18.08]
• Desktop [XFCE]
• Application Version [e.g. v18.8]

[Areahints]

Putting this here as a guide

pidof timeshift

this will display a PID number eg 17555

sudo kill 17555

when you launch timeshift it should launch correctly

You can then navigate to /timeshift/snapshots and delete/backup whatever you want

Questions

In settings > User Home Directories, root and my home folder are excluded by default. Does it mean that whatever backup timeshift is creating will exclude my media (Downloads, Documents, Desktop) and stuff installed via apt and snap?

In settings>Filters, the following are excluded
/home/computerName/*
/root/*

Isnt this the same thing as the option in User Home Directories? if not what makes it different?

What settings should i have to create

1. a backup of the OS and Media including stuff installed via apt/snap etc?
2. a backup of only my Media?
3. a backup of only the OS including stuff installed via apt/snap etc?
4. a backup of only the OS?

[datgb]

Guess this issue is being ignored. Doing the same thing to my install on Parrot OS. Had to kill it to do anything and uninstall timeshift.

[MahmoudFahiem]

I don't know you still face the same problem or not. for the question you asked about the difference between users and filters. In users you are limited with user options only, you can't not for example include only the pictures folder. But in filter option you have more options to include or exclude or include any file or folder

[nowave7]

Sorry to resurrect a relatively old issue, but I'm afraid this isn't a bug. It comes down to size of what you are trying to back up. I have a fairly large home folder (~120GB) plus a lot of stuff other applications, tools, dev environments, source code, what not. I don't even have any film or music collections, but still the size of the last snapshot went over 200GB alone! And if you choose to do your backups quite often (daily basis, keeping five snapshots), you're in big trouble.

[rodwgs]

Are you saving your backups to the same HDD which is being backed up? If so, that's a problem right there; you should backup to a separate partition, at least (ideally a separate drive entirely.)

[nowave7]

Hey Rod,

That is indeed the case. The thing is, this came out of the box like that, not the most ideal situation. Not an expert by any means, but I guess it would be nice to check if that is the only partition/drive present in the system, and ask the user how to set it up, or disable it entirely?

[rodwgs]

I agree, the system should ideally try to save to a different partition/drive, even if it has to prompt the user for one. I get that people want one-click-instant-backups right out the gate, but this seems like a necessity.