Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

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Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

22 October 2021, 11:23:10

Hi,
Of course it is a great thing to have snapshots of system (and preferably user data). In my distrohopping over the past period I tried TimeShift, BTRFS & Snapper.

All are great BUT my main concern is about Baloo, it seems that there is a bug already filed with KDE. The bug is Dolphin search result returns multiple entries of the same file. I think it also makes Baloo keeps reindexing "new" files so the system gets really slow.

I found this MakeUseOf website mentioning a few snapshoting software, but I'm reluctant because of this multiple entries in search results and co.

For now I'm not using any snapshoting or BTRFS and everything is OK.

Anybody could sort out this issue?
Edit:
As per the another page on same website

Code: [Select]

dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/sdb1 bs=64K conv=noerror,sync

(wonder if I can change the "of=" to point to a folder in my home directory) and a cron job every 3 or 6 hours (same "of" so it over writes.
and do the opposite to recover the "previous" state.

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #1 – 22 October 2021, 21:29:17

Quote from: limotux – on 22 October 2021, 11:23:10

Edit:
As per the another page on same website
Code: [Select]
dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/sdb1 bs=64K conv=noerror,sync
(wonder if I can change the "of=" to point to a folder in my home directory) and a cron job every 3 or 6 hours (same "of" so it over writes.
and do the opposite to recover the "previous" state.

dd is a brilliant tool, however, it cannot be used to copy the partition/disk it is being run from, i.e. you need a live disk to dd your Artix installation. Where you store that copy is up to you, but it probably is not a good idea to save it on the same disk as you are copying from for obvious reasons.

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #2 – 23 October 2021, 09:11:19

Quote from: rayburn – on 22 October 2021, 21:29:17

dd is a brilliant tool, however, it cannot be used to copy the partition/disk it is being run from, i.e. you need a live disk to dd your Artix installation. Where you store that copy is up to you, but it probably is not a good idea to save it on the same disk as you are copying from for obvious reasons.

So, better stick a little USB flash drive to my laptop to do it.
Write a script to "of" to flash drive, cron it (every 6 - 12 hours, I previously said 3-6 hours but I thought this is too frequent), another to "of" to HDD.
Any other comments/suggestions? I'm just brainstorming and thinking out loud to reach the best possible.

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #3 – 23 October 2021, 15:05:24

What if a file is being written, or you are in the middle of an update? dd also doesn't check it's results properly, unlike cp. Also overwriting the same location isn't a good idea because the backup procedure itself can fail so both the backup and original are no good. Anything connected permanently to the system can be affected by malware or other problems, software or hardware. A good backup routine would be to backup to 2 or more different external drives alternately at regular intervals, say daily, monthly, whatever suits you, and remove them afterwards. Set up a RAID system if you want a permanently connected backup, but this won't protect you from everything. And look at photorec, even deleted stuff can sometimes be recovered.

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #4 – 23 October 2021, 15:40:19

Default ext4 with regular backups if files are binary, or the use of source control systems like Sourcehut, Gitlab or Github if they are textual should be enough for most people.

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #5 – 23 October 2021, 15:51:12

Quote from: strajder – on 23 October 2021, 15:40:19

Default ext4 with regular backups if files are binary, or the use of source control systems like Sourcehut, Gitlab or Github if they are textual should be enough for most people.

Sorry, I'm not sure I technically understand.

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #6 – 23 October 2021, 16:28:24

Some people prefer to store their non-sensitive configuration settings in git repositories.

If the files are binary, like photos and music, then regular backups (using rsync or just normal file copy) are enough.

Besides that, ext4 has journaling support, so it already has some measure of data protection in the event of power failure.

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #7 – 23 October 2021, 17:39:08

Quote from: strajder – on 23 October 2021, 16:28:24

Some people prefer to store their non-sensitive configuration settings in git repositories.

If the files are binary, like photos and music, then regular backups (using rsync or just normal file copy) are enough.

Besides that, ext4 has journaling support, so it already has some measure of data protection in the event of power failure.

I understand now. Thank you @strajder
My main concern is about only the OS. (Personal non sensitive data already on cloud).
So, just in case an update/upgrade goes bad or I install/uninstall something that messes my system, there is a way to "backup" system to git repos and retrieve a previous working state from there?
That would be definitely much better than a flash disk.
How to do that?

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #8 – 23 October 2021, 17:47:41

Quote from: limotux – on 23 October 2021, 17:39:08

So, just in case an update/upgrade goes bad or I install/uninstall something that messes my system, there is a way to "backup" system to git repos and retrieve a previous working state from there?

Typically you would only save your personal files (photos, music...) to a backup. When git is used to store configuration files, that usually includes files like ~/.bashrc, ~/.vimrc, ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf and so on. In the case when system is unbootable, it can be easily fixed from Live ISO, or (as a last resort) by reinstalling.

Re: Snapshot System - Baloo Issues

Reply #9 – 23 October 2021, 18:02:18

Quote from: strajder – on 23 October 2021, 17:47:41

Typically you would only save your personal files (photos, music...) to a backup. When git is used to store configuration files, that usually includes files like ~/.bashrc, ~/.vimrc, ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf and so on. In the case when system is unbootable, it can be easily fixed from Live ISO, or (as a last resort) by reinstalling.

Thanks a lot @strajder
I think I have enough knowledge. I'll think for a while about best thing to do.

I see nobody mentioned a way to avoid Baloo issues, hopefully Baloo developers would fix that.
Thank you.