I made my screenshots autosave to tmpfs (retrolemmy.com)

submitted 4 days ago by Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com to c/linux@programming.dev

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I take screenshots a lot using Spectacle, so I set my default save location to /run/user/1000/screenshots and made it autosave and copy to clipboard.

Since /run/user/1000/ is a tmpfs, it gets wiped on reboot, it doesn't write to my SSD, and unlike /tmp/ it's inaccessible by other users. I think it's really convenient!

Anyone else doing this? I also often download zip files to /run/user/1000/screenshots so I can extract and delete the zip file without wasting SSD writes lol.

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[-] Mihies@programming.dev 6 points 4 days ago

It uses RAM, though. And if I'm not mistaken, it could write to swap file. But I guess it's not an issue with screenshots unless one doesn't make million of those without deleting them.

[-] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

yea it does, but it's pretty minimal

mine is at 3.7 MB with 23 png files (I always use the rectangle select, not full screenshot)

[-] Mihies@programming.dev 7 points 3 days ago

That's worth at least $100 with current RAM prices 😜

this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2026

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