Timeshift
Snapshots of your whole system so you can roll back a bad update, like System Restore.
Our verdict
Timeshift is the safety net that makes updating Linux feel safe. It takes a snapshot of the system files and settings before an update, and if something breaks you restore the snapshot and carry on.
It is the direct equivalent of System Restore on Windows, and on Linux Mint it is set up for you out of the box. On other distributions you install it yourself and choose a schedule.
The important detail is what it does not cover. By default it leaves your home folder alone, so your photos, documents and downloads are not in the snapshot. That is on purpose, because restoring a snapshot should not undo the work you did yesterday. Use Déjà Dup or Pika Backup alongside it for the files you care about.
What's good
- Rolls the system back to a working state after a bad update, the way System Restore does on Windows
- Already installed and configured on Linux Mint, with nothing for you to do
- Snapshots take little extra space when your disk uses the BTRFS format
What to know first
- Deliberately skips your documents and photos, so it is not a substitute for a real backup
- Needs a second drive or plenty of free space on some setups
- Not on Flathub, so on distributions that do not ship it you install it from your app store instead
The details
- Cost
- Free
- Open source
- Yes (GPL-3.0)
- How you install it
- .deb installer, .rpm installer, Built-in app store
Windows apps it can replace
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