On Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 1:21 AM, Polytropon <free...@edvax.de> 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? > > I know that sysinstall had the option "newfs toggle" so you could > skip the newfs step after you had assigned the existing partitions > to the desired mountpoints. > > It can be seen at > > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/install-steps.html > > in Fig. 3.19 and 3.24. > > I have to admit that I didn't assume such a significant loss of > functionality (that sysinstall provided!) in the new installer... :-( > > That's why maybe manually extracting the distribution files from > the installation media, using the CLI tools, would probably the > easiest thing: Manually mount existing partitions as desired, > then extract the installation datasets, and apply any further > modifications as needed. > > > > -- > Polytropon > Magdeburg, Germany > Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 > Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ... > OR Disconnect power line of existing HDD to be reinstalled . Attach another HDD or drive , for example USB stick . Perform a fresh install on the new unit . After verifying that the new install is working properly , Shutdown the computer , attach power of previous HDD , mount it , copy all of the new files from freshly installed unit into previous HDD, Shutdown the computer , Disconnect newly installed unit , Restart the computer . It is very likely that your previous HDD will work as like newly installed . OR Do the reverse : >From previous HDD , copy all of the required files to the new HDD . Disconnect previous HDD or unit . Continue with the new HDD or unit . If the previous HDD is not bootable , it is necessary to continue with the new HDD . I am applying the second kind of steps for all my new installs . In that way nothing is broken , even there is no back up of the files because nothing applied to the existing HDD . The cost of this operation is to have a spare disk or a USB stick having sufficient capacity . Personally I am not using USB sticks for such operations because they may fail unexpectedly . Thank you very much . Mehmet Erol Sanliturk _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
