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Timeshift Should Automatically Delete Oldest Snapshots When Disk Space is Low #329
Description
after my bug report was not as successful as it could be, I would like to add a related feature request:
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I've been frustrated a few times already when my system disk becomes critically low on space due to accumulated Timeshift snapshots. This has led to my system becoming unresponsive or unbootable a few times already, causing significant disruptions. For instance, I once had to deal with a full disk issue that left me unable to access my system or manage my snapshots effectively. Even deleting snapshots via command line was not possible (see other issue).
Describe the solution you'd like
I would like Timeshift to automatically delete the oldest snapshots when it detects that the disk space is critically low. Having an automatic cleanup mechanism would greatly enhance the reliability of Timeshift on systems with limited disk space. It would prevent scenarios where users are locked out of their systems due to full disks.
My ideal solution includes:
- Automatic Deletion: Timeshift should detect when the disk space is critically low and automatically delete the oldest snapshots to free up space.
- Minimum Free Space: Ensure that there is always a minimum amount of free space available on the system disk (e.g., 1GB) to prevent system crashes or the inability to create new snapshots.
- User Notification: Notify the user when automatic deletion has occurred and provide information about the space freed and any remaining issues.
Describe alternatives you've considered
As an alternative, I've considered manually managing snapshots and regularly monitoring disk space. However, this is cumbersome and prone to errors, especially when dealing with unexpected space constraints.
thanks for the great tool anyway!!
Activity
Infraviolet200 commentedon Sep 21, 2024
Very oldest is surely the last one you'd want to delete? Very oldest s probably the most important one, the one you made on a fresh system once you'd installed all your programs but before you did anything that could corrupt it and cause you to need to make a restoration.
hirntot commentedon Sep 21, 2024
Well, the Auto-deletion could be activated only for Auto-created snapshots..
aral-matrix commentedon Apr 29, 2025
Seconded, I just had to do support for a friend who is on Mint as a less experienced user, and timeshift broke his system by filling up the root partition to the brim (34GB timeshift files) on default settings.
I did not even know this tool existed until we did a check on what root level folders occupied how much disk space.
Please modify timeshift default settings to NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER fill the target disk beyond 5 GB free disk space, and make that setting configurable for larger (or lesser, at your own risk) margins!
GoldenGlimpse commentedon May 4, 2025
Yes please! I messed up my system and had no clue the external disk was full because of Timeshift, it literally has 0 free bytes left.
It stopped making backups 2 weeks ago. So instead of being able to reverse 1 or 2 days back, i had to restore it 2 weeks back.
Maybe... just maybe... at least a simple warning from Timeshift? Like, "hey... disk is almost full, please fix it."
Thanks.
ygerlach commentedon Nov 11, 2025
currently timeshift should already auto delete snapshots when they fall "out of range". For example, if you set it to only have "5 Daily" (and have your computer on each day) the oldest snapshot should be at most 5 Days old. Snapshots are not deleted when they have a comment or are manually created. See: #463
aral-matrix commentedon Nov 11, 2025
Seeing as it has been over a year without any reaction from the devs on this issue, I think it's time to petition mint to kick timeshift out of the default installation, and replace it with a tool that is actually supported.
hirntot commentedon May 13, 2026
@aral-matrix is there a better or even comarable tool though?
aral-matrix commentedon May 13, 2026
Don't know don't care, my emphasis was to not install it by default - make it an opt-in (or a forced user choice) during installation, with a disclaimer that when used, it can render the computer unusable.
hirntot commentedon May 13, 2026
I opened this issue a while ago and, as a workaround for my own systems - and for my customers - I wrote a small tool that deletes the oldest Timeshift snapshots when space gets critical, not touching timeshift itself.
Since this topic still isn’t fully solved upstream, I’ve now published it on GitHub in case it helps others:
https://github.com/hirntot/timeshift-spaceshift
Thedeur commentedon Oct 19, 2026
I had to search online to see how to automatically delete older backups (because my backup drive was full), and according to this thread it doesn't even have that setting?
wat
ygerlach commentedon Oct 19, 2026
Timeshift stops creating snapshots if the freespace is less than 1GB. Or the space required for a new snapshot is more than whats free.
So timeshift never lets your drive become completely full, that will mostly be something else.
We could make this 1GB adjustable, but having timeshift auto delete snapshots on thight space is dangerous, because the user is not really aware that this is happening. So the user might think he has 12 months worth of snapshots in timeshift, just to notice, that wenn he needs it only one is left, because the drive got full.
Or User decompresses a big file, or downloads a big game. Instead of just failing, timeshift will delete all snapshots, and then the decompression failes. Cool. now there is no big file and no snapshots.
I am not saying that such a feature is unthinkable, my point is, that we have to be careful not to let the reliability of timeshift slip away for that.
I think something like "allocate how much space the snapshots are allowed to take up" or "stop if the drive has less than x % or x GB of free space" is totally fine.
hirntot commentedon Oct 20, 2026
Well, that is not just right. I'd put your comment this way:
Why not let the user decide about enabling and setting up a feature jus as I made it (see link above) in the settings of timeshift?
First of all, there could be a warning about lack of space. Then, snapshots would be deleted one by one, the oldest ones first, only AFTER a second space limit is passed and I ignored the warning about lack of space. The most important is the warning anyway.
Disclaimer: my feature is NOT helping when you decompress a file that is too big at that time, since it is only a cron based checkup, just like timeshift.
ygerlach commentedon Oct 20, 2026
i am just saying it needs more thought than just starting to delete things. And having a fixed max allocation for snapshots would probably solve the space issue some users may have while its still not possible to accidentally delete all snapshots.
sure
i sure hope so. But still, disk space creeps up, snapshots get deleted, maybe the user gets a warning, at some point all snapshots are gone.