From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Oct 10 12:10:20 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 175161065686 for ; Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:10:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cvoth@telus.net) Received: from outbound05.telus.net (outbound05.telus.net [199.185.220.224]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B55738FC12 for ; Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:10:19 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cvoth@telus.net) Received: from priv-edtnaa05.telusplanet.net ([75.157.28.2]) by priv-edtnes25.telusplanet.net (InterMail vM.7.08.02.02 201-2186-121-104-20070414) with ESMTP id <20081010105059.TXXA4217.priv-edtnes25.telusplanet.net@priv-edtnaa05.telusplanet.net> for ; Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:50:59 -0600 Received: from oliver.bc.lan (d75-157-28-2.bchsia.telus.net [75.157.28.2]) by priv-edtnaa05.telusplanet.net (BorderWare Security Platform) with ESMTP id 7E0809113C250B28 for ; Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:52:18 -0600 (MDT) Received: from [10.111.111.112] (unknown [10.111.111.112]) by oliver.bc.lan (Postfix) with ESMTP id C33C461E0; Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:52:17 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <48EF33E1.2030503@telus.net> Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:52:17 -0700 From: Carl Voth User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 (Windows/20080708) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <48EDDD2D.1000505@telus.net> In-Reply-To: <48EDDD2D.1000505@telus.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: cannot install from existing UFS thumb drive with sysinstall X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:10:20 -0000 Is there no one out there that can help? I've dug into NFS a little more and that does not appear to support mounting a local filesystem under sysinstall. In the following thread, Richard Tobin makes an assertion that suggests that I might be able to mount my thumb drive's existing UFS partition in the disk labelling step. http://unix.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc/2004-10/0920.html [ http://tinyurl.com/3mknq7 ] The first problem I ran into was that there is no way to add a second drive (ie. target drive is SATA hard disk, thumb drive is install drive) to the disk labelling step. The only way that that can be achieved is by first adding it to the fdisk partitioning step. I'm willing to believe that *maybe* there's no risk to my thumb drive in rewriting it's disk label if I'm very careful not to newfs it. But nothing about the fdisk partition editor gives me a sense that it will hold off of rewriting my thumb drive's slice table even though I'm not trying to change anything. It just seems perverse to have to reslice and relabel just to mount an existing filesystem. If the only way one can mount a local filesystem in sysinstall is using the disk label editor, can someone explain to me the actual consequences and risks of this procedure? I did not proceed to Write or Commit in this little experiment yet because of the unknown risks. I have to say that I cannot believe how horribly unfriendly sysinstall is for anyone wanting to use a USB thumb drive as an install medium. In fact, it's looking totally unusable. Clearly sysinstall is utilizing 'mount' functionality for it's own purposes. Surely there's some way for me to access it too?!? Carl / K0802647