Timeshift Snapshots on AcreetionOS

AcreetionOS configures Timeshift during installation so that every machine has a parachute. Snapshots capture the system (/, excluding your personal files by design) so you can roll back updates, experiments or breakage in minutes.

Check your setup

sudo timeshift --list          # existing snapshots
cat /etc/timeshift/timeshift.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E 'mode|device'

Default mode is RSYNC with weekly+daily schedules. Keep at least ~15 GB free for snapshot storage.

Create a snapshot manually

sudo timeshift --create --comments "before trying KDE themes"

Habit worth building: snapshot before big changes — updates, driver swaps, desktop experiments.

Restore

From within a working system

sudo timeshift --restore      # pick snapshot, confirm, reboot when asked

When the system won’t boot

Boot the AcreetionOS ISO → open the Recovery Environment → choose Timeshift restore. It auto-mounts and restores the right device.

What snapshots do NOT cover

  • /home (your documents) is excluded by default — that’s what Backups are for.

  • Other partitions/disks.

  • GRUB itself (reinstallable via Recovery Environment).

Disk space management

RSYNC snapshots hard-link unchanged files — they’re cheap. Still:

sudo timeshift --delete --snapshot '2026-08-01_10-00-01'   # prune old ones

Or let the schedule’s automatic pruning handle it (default keeps 5 daily / weekly set).

Btrfs users

If you installed onto btrfs, switch Timeshift mode to BTRFS for instant copy-on-write snapshots — see Administration → Btrfs.