I have a Samsung external SSD 1TB that is about 2 months old. I use Timeshift (TS) daily, saving to the Samsung SSD. I want to keep just the latest 7 or 8 days. However, after I reach ~6 days of saves, a recent save will disappear from TS's list after a day or so. The save is present on TS's list for a while, but then disappears. The most recent occurrence happened with the save for June 11, 2023 (6/11/23). In the first screenshot below, you can see that SSD has a TS file for 6/11/23 and also for 6/12/23. In the second screen shot below, you can see that TS lists the 6/12/23 save -- for now -- but the 6/11/23 save has disappeared. Do I have a TS problem or do I have an SSD problem?
@bellgamin I doubt it's your ssd failing. If you mount the ssd using the Linux File manager instead of using Timeshift and navigate to the location where the snapshots are stored, do you then see those missing snapshots? EDIT Actually, the first screenshot looks like your file manager, while the second one looks to be from TS's snaphots location list.
Hmm... Mount the ssd using File Mgr versus using Timeshift? The ssd mounts automatically as soon as I plug it into the port. As to which snapshots are seen by File Mgr: 1- The TS file folder (FF) on SSD has the following sub-FFs: snapshots, snapshots-boot, snapshots-daily, snapshots-hourly, snapshots-monthly, snapshots-ondemand, snapshots-monthly 2- The first sub-FF, snapshots, has ALL of the snapshots, including the 6/11/23 that TS is missing. 3- The snapshots-ondemand sub-FF has just the same snapshots as TS has -- such that the 6/11/23 is missing from the on-demand folder. I wonder if TS is configured so that it will only show 6 or 7 on-demand snapshots. If so, that would explain my situation.
That or something similar,such as how many snapshots it will save could be the issue. Sorry I can't help here, as I used TS only briefly a long time ago. At least your ssd is fine.
@wat0114 -- Thanks for the very useful comments. So -- the SSD is okay but Timeshift (TS) is dodgy. Reminds me of when my dentist told me, "Your teeth are okay but the gums have got to come out." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So... the mystery remains as to why TS is acting forgetful. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
It might be the way you have "Select Snapshot Levels" setup. Referring to Step 3: Select Snapshot Levels from this Timeshift tutorial, how is yours set up? It looks like from the "Tags" column in your second screenshot, there are mostly "O" tags, indicating you are mostly performing Manual snapshots. Not suggesting this is problematic, just trying to determine how you have TS set up and how you are taking snapshots with it. I take it your target backup ssd is formatted to a Linux file system, such as ext4? I ask because according to the tutorial, Windows file systems are not supported. Maybe go through the entire tutorial to see if there is something in your setup that doesn't look right.
Yes, I prefer on-demand snapshots. The reason is that TS does not allow user to set the times when scheduled snapshots are to be made. Example: I tried daily snapshots. I had to leave my external SSD plugged in until TS got around to making the snapshot. Then I went about my business. I checked every so often to see if TS had done the daily snapshot. It was over 4 hours before TS got around to doing it. For reasons of security, I do not like to leave my external SSD constantly plugged in. To me, the inability of TS to create an immediate Daily snapshot -- or at least to let user schedule the time for that snapshot -- is a TS design deficiency. BTW, my SSD IS in Linux format. Evidently, there aren't many TS users here at Wilders. (Sigh) Oh well, I am adjusting myself to work with TS, using on-demand ("O") snapshots, & hoping for the best.
