From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Oct 14 13:51:21 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 969F1965 for ; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 13:51:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 47B8C299A for ; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 13:51:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id r9EDpGlN086899; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:51:16 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.7/8.14.7/Submit) with ESMTP id r9EDpF7G086896; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:51:16 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:51:15 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block To: Polytropon Subject: Re: Reinstall without reformat In-Reply-To: <20131014072118.8a49bd58.freebsd@edvax.de> Message-ID: References: <20131013172430.71AA26018E@smtp.hushmail.com> <20131014040742.d03fa5bd.freebsd@edvax.de> <20131014072118.8a49bd58.freebsd@edvax.de> User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.4.3 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:51:16 -0600 (MDT) Cc: Kenta Suzumoto , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 13:51:21 -0000 On Mon, 14 Oct 2013, Polytropon wrote: > On Sun, 13 Oct 2013 23:01:02 -0600 (MDT), Warren Block wrote: >> On Mon, 14 Oct 2013, Polytropon wrote: >> >>> On Sun, 13 Oct 2013 13:24:30 -0400, Kenta Suzumoto wrote: >>>> Hi all. Is it possible to install FreeBSD without formatting the disk? >>> >>> Yes. The installer supports not formatting existing partitions. >>> The file system characteristica will be kept, possible content >>> will overwritten. Note that "superfluous content" will also be >>> kept, except of course you previously remove everything. >> >> sysinstall supported that, but AFAIK bsdinstall does not. > > Oh, seems you're right. I've checked The FreeBSD Handbook for > the relevant instructions for using bsdinstall at > > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/bsdinstall-partitioning.html > > and > > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/bsdinstall-final-warning.html > > and I didn't find an option to _not_ initialize existing partitions, > even though it seems you can assign existing partitions without any > problem. The remaining question: Will they be initialized again? It is possible to mount filesystems manually from the shell and have bsdinstall continue with the install without formatting them. It's been a while since I tried that, and I don't recall the exact details. bsdinstall(8) suggests it may be as easy as just having the existing filesystems mounted at /mnt. Still, not something to try without a backup.