Until a few years ago i ran openSUSE Tumbleweed for 5 months. For maybe 3 of those months i used btrfs, & ergo its Snapper-Rollback capability for its system files. I used luckyBackup for my data, then later replaced it with BackInTime.
From oS TW to Manjaro, with ext4, & this was when i started using Timeshift for system files. Still used BackInTime for my data.
Now using Arch, but still with Timeshift for system files & BackInTime for my data.
In various fora over the past few years i have read advice by some people, regarding Timeshift, that i consider to be very bad. Some people think they can use Timeshift for both their system AND data backups. IMO this is extremely dangerous – if ever they choose/need to restore an older TS snapshot, they will be returning not only to the older system files BUT ALSO to all their data as existed when the snapshot was taken. That is, all their data that changed or was added afterwards, will be completely lost.
I shall not make a blanket statement that one might not be able to somehow workaround the hazard. All i will say is that if one blindly uses only TS, for everything, with no clever workaround, then they will eventually lose data. IMO the better policy is:
I understand this issue if applied to a new user who doesn’t fully understand how Timeshift and/or backups work, and especially when applied to Arch, giving the fast, rolling-release of updates being hurled at your face. However, I can’t really see a knowledgeable user doing this.
They would instead backup the complete system with the most recent backup, then use Timeshifts nifty ‘browser’ function to go back and get any ‘home’ files they need that wasn’t included on the most current re-install. That is the proper way, and also makes Timeshift a great option, imo, for system, config and home/user file backup system all-in-one.
Here is my question, because I don’t know that much about BTRFS yet (and I believe Garuda uses it as default, correct?) but does it work with Timeshift without issue?
Yes, and you can make snapshot without /@home so your data are the same after restoring.
But as always it is not a backup solution. Save needed Data extern