From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 16 15:18:23 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8468916A402 for ; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:18:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: from gizmo.acns.msu.edu (gizmo.acns.msu.edu [35.8.1.43]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 55DD013C45A for ; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:18:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: from gizmo.acns.msu.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gizmo.acns.msu.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id l2GFHt4n075852; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:17:55 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: (from jerrymc@localhost) by gizmo.acns.msu.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6/Submit) id l2GFHtkl075851; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:17:55 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from jerrymc) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:17:55 -0400 From: Jerry McAllister To: Drew Jenkins Message-ID: <20070316151755.GH75446@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> References: <683651.79176.qm@web62210.mail.re1.yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <683651.79176.qm@web62210.mail.re1.yahoo.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.2i Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Corrupted OS 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, 16 Mar 2007 15:18:23 -0000 On Fri, Mar 16, 2007 at 05:09:15PM +0700, Drew Jenkins wrote: > 23Hi; > Is it possible to rebuild an OS without reformatting the hard drive? I > have FBSD6.2, so I can't upgrade. I am not sure just what you are trying to avoid. First of all, strictly speaking, when installing FreeBSD you never format or reformat the hard-drive. That is a much lower level operation. FreeBSD and all other OSen use the factory format unless you do something unusually drastic. Doing fdisk/bsdlabel/newfs is not technically 'formatting' the drive but rather building slices, partitions and filesystems on the drive. Now. You do not have to redo the fdisk, bsdlabel and newfs to wipe out and reinstall things, but why not do them? They take very little time. The only reason I could think of would be if you have a lot of your own files you don't want to nuke. But, in that case, the better course of action would be to back them up somewhere safe and do the complete reinstall from scratch and then bring your own files back. ////jerry > TIA, > Drew > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >