PopOS 22: random freezes when using btrfs and timeshift

POPOS 22: RANDOM FREEZES WHEN USING BTRFS AND TIMESHIFT

I noticed my system was randomly freezing for some seconds when I was using btrfs and timeshift on PopOS 22. Searching a little bit online, I discovered that is related to btrfs quotas enabled, although them not being stable yet. Here is how to fix that.

2023 February 22

What is happening

When timeshift runs its background tasks, it triggers “btrfs-cleaner” which on its’ turn will freeze the machine.

At this time (2023-02-22) btrfs quotas are still unstable, so they should NOT be enabled.

How to fix that

1- Check if btrfs quotas are enabled: sudo btrfs qgroup show / If this commands shows any output except an ERROR one, then they are enabled.

2- On Timeshift, under “Settings -> Users”, turn off “Enable BTRFS qgroups (recommended)”

3- Turn off btrfs quotas: sudo btrfs quota disable /

4- Check again if btrfs quotas are enabled: sudo btrfs qgroup show / This time you must get this output: ERROR: can't list qgroups: quotas not enabled. That means all is fine now.

IMPORTANT: follow the steps on this exact order. Otherwise, timeshift will re-enable the quotas again.