Is Image Snapshot Different from Backup Snapshot?

The Linode Images and the backups are different, so you can safely take a snapshot without fear of overwriting the image from the "Manage Image" tab.

There is no harm taking the snapshot it won't overwrite the image.

Reading https://www.linode.com/docs/platform/linode-images raises questions for me:

If an image size is limited to 2GB and a Linode disk size may be say 30-40GB, which 2GB are selected for the image? How can a 2GB image be used to "clone" a new Linode if most of the files are not included? Are just the system files saved, e.g., not including /usr/local/ or /home/ files?

It wouldn't select any files, it'll give an error and abort the clone attempt. For example, you'll see:

Unable to create image. Size of disk (4141MB) is larger than the per-image limit of 2048MB.

(my disk was 20000MB)

You would need to make sure that there really are 2GB or less of that disk space being used before being able to make an image of that disk.

If it was successful you'll have the disk exactly as it was when the image was created, files and all.

Thanks for guide friend about the difference between Image Snapshot and Backup Snapshot. :)

Possible to auto backup the images to another location? Not good to have all eggs in one node.