Create Extra BTRFS partition

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Add extra BTRFS partition to Standard Parrrot installation with LUKS encryption

Hello - I want to run “Timeshift” to take snapshots on my new daily driver parrot install on my Lenovo T470: https://github.com/teejee2008/timeshift

Timeshift likes to a: have it’s own partition for backups, b: work with BTRFS for snapshots (will be /bkup)

I have upfraded to a 1TB SSD.M2 installed - and I want to use 500GB just for backups.

Problem: After installation I have a sda1, sda2, ahnd sda5 (respectively boot, ? and sda5_crypt) - sda5_crypt comprises of:

  • parrot–vg-root - 37.7Gb - /
  • parrot–vg-swap_1 - 8GB - [SWAP] (I thought there should be no swap on BTRFS?)
  • parrot–vg-home - 827GB ( /home) - i.e. all available remaining space!

So - How can I install so I end up with extra partition: ~500Gb for the BTRS /bkup partition? What is best way to achieve this?

PS: I want to keep as close to the standard Parrot installer as possible

also I am assuming I can just delete the SWAP partition altogether?

What version of Parrot are you running? (include version, edition, and architecture)
Parrot 4.5, Security Edtition, x64

What method did you use to install Parrot? (Debian Standard / Debian GTK / parrot-experimental)
Debian Standard (no GUI)

Configured to multiboot with other systems? (yes / no)
No way!

If there are any similar issues or solutions, link to them below:

If there are any error messages or relevant logs, post them below:

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The simplest way is to use something like parted on the command line or gparted (the graphical version) and depending on the filesystem you may or not be able to this on the system that’s running…but you would just resize (shrink) in your case the home partition. However I take it you used the encrypted installation option, not sure if that prevents fs changes but it shouldn’t be a problem if using btrfs.

On the installer, that program is not made specifically for Parrot, it is the debian installer used by most debian distributions. It’s a little old and so contains some canned responses that aren’t necessarily needed or true. So no you don’t need swap for btrfs or for any modern machine with a sufficient amount of ram.

Last but not least I should add that it’s not very useful to backup to the same disk

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True - but:

  • Modern Lenovo T-Series’s now only have one single disk bay (the used to support two disks! Strange as disks are getting ever smaller - SSD.M2)
  • This entire backup partition will be replicated to NAS on LAN network - it is only an intermeadiate storrage location - but great for the odd timeshift roll-back
  • Timeshift would like it’s own partition and that should be NTFS as I understand it
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