What is timeshift?

Timeshift is a system restore tool for Linux that works similarly to System Restore on Windows or Time Machine on macOS. It takes periodic snapshots of your operating system files so that if something goes wrong, such as a bad software update, a misconfigured setting, or a broken installation, you can roll the system back to an earlier state. The tool operates in two modes. The first mode uses rsync, a file copying utility, combined with hard links to create space-efficient snapshots where unchanged files are shared between backups rather than duplicated. The second mode uses BTRFS, a type of Linux filesystem that has built-in snapshot capabilities, which makes snapshots nearly instant and uses very little additional disk space. Timeshift is specifically designed to protect system files and settings, not personal documents, photos, or music. User home directories are excluded from snapshots by default. The reason for this is intentional: when you restore a snapshot, you want your system to go back to how it was configured without overwriting the files you have been working on. You can optionally include hidden configuration files from your home directory if you want to restore application preferences. Scheduling is flexible. You can set snapshots to be taken hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and at boot time. Rather than running at a fixed time each day, the tool checks every hour whether a snapshot is due, which avoids missed backups on laptops that may not be running at a specific scheduled moment. Restoring a snapshot can be done from within the running system or from a live USB if the system is no longer bootable. The tool handles reinstalling the bootloader automatically as part of the restore process. Note: this repository contains the original code and is archived. Active development has moved to the Linux Mint project's own repository, where the tool is now officially maintained.