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I recently messed up pretty badly by removing all 32-bit binaries in my Ubuntu 18.04, of course I'd forgotten to make a back-up. I've had similar issues in the past on Windows as well where I did something stupid that caused a crash in a drive or folder without having a back-up.

So I was wondering, is there a way to have a version controlled history of the entire lifetime of an OS where every update, download, change, etc. generates a new history node similar to how you would make changes using git?

JansthcirlU
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  • No, there isn't. The most you can do is to regularly take image backups of your system disk. – harrymc Jan 27 '21 at 21:26
  • @harrymc how about Time Machine for macOS, isn't that kinda like source control but only for mac? – JansthcirlU Jan 27 '21 at 21:37
  • @JansthcirlU - Windows and macOS both have something similar, but you must enabled it, and must also have additional storage necessary to do it. In the end, as somebody indicated, an image of the system disk is your real backup. Windows has File History and Windows backup while macOS has Time Machine. Understanding what a command does before you use it is the best defense. – Ramhound Jan 27 '21 at 21:42
  • the closest analogy would be block-tracking systems like vm snapshots. they could theoretically be merged – Frank Thomas Jan 27 '21 at 21:44
  • I see, thanks for the explanations everyone! – JansthcirlU Jan 27 '21 at 21:54
  • It *is* possible - Btrfs. There are many guides. I'd start [here](https://www.addictivetips.com/ubuntu-linux-tips/ubuntu-btrfs/). – bitinerant Jan 27 '21 at 21:56
  • @bitinerant Brilliant, thanks! – JansthcirlU Jan 27 '21 at 22:02
  • @JansthcirlU The closest I can think of would be using ZFS as the filesystem and setting an aggressive ZFS snapshot schedule, such as the one I use for my TrueNAS server: every 15min, deleting after 1hr; every 1hr, deleting after 1day; every 6hrs, deleting after 1month; daily at 6am, deleting after 1yr. – JW0914 Jan 31 '21 at 13:31
  • @Ramhound Windows backup would be inefficient and capturing a WIM would be recommended in lieu of _(I explain why it's inefficient in the first part of [this](https://superuser.com/a/1582279/529800) answer)_ – JW0914 Jan 31 '21 at 14:05

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