backup system linux to external hard drive

teejee2008 / timeshift

System restore tool for Linux. Creates filesystem snapshots using rsync+hardlinks, or BTRFS snapshots. Supports scheduled snapshots, multiple backup levels, and exclude filters. Snapshots can be restored while system is running or from Live CD/USB.

GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0

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backup system linux to external hard drive #245

Open candrapersada opened 6 years ago

candrapersada commented 6 years ago

why file systems are not supported NTFS for backup to to external hard drive?

ctrlbru commented 6 years ago

Because timeshift relies on hard links for file level deduplication and to give you what seems to be a complete copy even if it's using only a fraction of the space because files are linked from previous snapshots. NTFS does not support such hard links but only soft links, which are not as versatile. External ext formatted drives will work.

mbunkin commented 4 years ago

Sorry, I'm not really an expert in file systems, but NTFS supports soft links, hard links and junctions. The following link has more details. https://superuser.com/questions/67870/what-is-the-difference-between-ntfs-hard-links-and-directory-junctions

Perhaps, neither of these three kinds of links are exactly what timeshift needs to function, but hard links as such do exist in NTFS.