Index: Build.PL
===================================================================
--- Build.PL	(revision 2207)
+++ Build.PL	(working copy)
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
     },
     build_requires     => {
         'Test::More'                    => 0.32,
+        'Test::Warn'                    => 0.08,
         'DBI'                           => 1.50,
         'DBD::SQLite'                   => 1.12,
     },
Index: lib/DBIx/Class/Schema/Loader/Base.pm
===================================================================
--- lib/DBIx/Class/Schema/Loader/Base.pm	(revision 2207)
+++ lib/DBIx/Class/Schema/Loader/Base.pm	(working copy)
@@ -176,8 +176,8 @@
 =head2 dump_overwrite
 
 If set to a true value, the dumping code will overwrite existing files.
-The default is false, which means the dumping code will die if it encounters
-an existing file.
+The default is false, which means the dumping code will skip the already
+existing files.
 
 =head1 DEPRECATED CONSTRUCTOR OPTIONS
 
@@ -364,23 +364,28 @@
     $self->_ensure_dump_subdirs($schema_class);
 
     my $schema_fn = $self->_get_dump_filename($schema_class);
-    croak "$schema_fn exists, will not overwrite"
-        if -f $schema_fn && !$self->dump_overwrite;
-    open(my $schema_fh, '>', $schema_fn)
-        or croak "Cannot open $schema_fn for writing: $!";
-    print $schema_fh qq|package $schema_class;\n\n$tagline\n\n|;
-    print $schema_fh qq|use strict;\nuse warnings;\n\n|;
-    print $schema_fh qq|use base 'DBIx::Class::Schema';\n\n|;
-    print $schema_fh qq|__PACKAGE__->load_classes;\n|;
-    print $schema_fh qq|\n1;\n\n|;
-    close($schema_fh)
-        or croak "Cannot close $schema_fn: $!";
+    if (-f $schema_fn && !$self->dump_overwrite) {
+        warn "$schema_fn exists, will not overwrite\n";
+    }
+    else {
+        open(my $schema_fh, '>', $schema_fn)
+            or croak "Cannot open $schema_fn for writing: $!";
+        print $schema_fh qq|package $schema_class;\n\n$tagline\n\n|;
+        print $schema_fh qq|use strict;\nuse warnings;\n\n|;
+        print $schema_fh qq|use base 'DBIx::Class::Schema';\n\n|;
+        print $schema_fh qq|__PACKAGE__->load_classes;\n|;
+        print $schema_fh qq|\n1;\n\n|;
+        close($schema_fh)
+            or croak "Cannot close $schema_fn: $!";
+    }
 
     foreach my $src_class (sort keys %{$self->{_dump_storage}}) {
         $self->_ensure_dump_subdirs($src_class);
         my $src_fn = $self->_get_dump_filename($src_class);
-        croak "$src_fn exists, will not overwrite"
-            if -f $src_fn && !$self->dump_overwrite;
+        if (-f $src_fn && !$self->dump_overwrite) {
+            warn "$src_fn exists, will not overwrite\n";
+            next;
+        }    
         open(my $src_fh, '>', $src_fn)
             or croak "Cannot open $src_fn for writing: $!";
         print $src_fh qq|package $src_class;\n\n$tagline\n\n|;
Index: t/22dump.t
===================================================================
--- t/22dump.t	(revision 2207)
+++ t/22dump.t	(working copy)
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use strict;
 use Test::More;
+use Test::Warn;
 use lib qw(t/lib);
 use File::Path;
 use make_dbictest_db;
@@ -33,9 +34,9 @@
 ok(!$@, 'no death with dump_directory set') or diag "Dump failed: $@";
 
 DBICTest::Schema::1->loader(undef);
-eval { DBICTest::Schema::1->connect($make_dbictest_db::dsn) };
-like($@, qr|DBICTest/Schema/1.pm exists, will not overwrite|,
-    'death when attempting to overwrite without option');
+warnings_like { DBICTest::Schema::1->connect($make_dbictest_db::dsn) }
+               [ qr|Dumping manual schema|, (qr|DBICTest/Schema/1.*?.pm exists, will not overwrite|) x 3, qr|Schema dump completed| ],
+               'warn and skip when attempting to overwrite without option';
 
 rmtree($dump_path, 1, 0711);