From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Oct 14 07:51:41 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D5BF7E70 for ; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:51:41 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from m.e.sanliturk@gmail.com) Received: from mail-ie0-x22f.google.com (mail-ie0-x22f.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4001:c03::22f]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A6EA92118 for ; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:51:41 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-ie0-f175.google.com with SMTP id aq17so10092211iec.20 for ; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 00:51:41 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; bh=LcCZgvoSbatGwIv+7A5G9KuptmoqWF4u5/rdkP8WU28=; b=R9hEC4XNbUMPy3nidFbx/WZs2RxuUCYo8iwNm7q2SdI2GOOPLt1f8FMNyP5s6QVO90 rwPL1rQC0Sz0zD133vuh4cM5C2N28tfNB7ElgeF1Oswc/DIQCZ35BtsiJXEOSzA4b4KT 19AImNki+l6gQTwj0nAC5xzyaAxjMjJAYBJTUIbOCAYgGSI0+dx3gPoQ5WieG3wkTUfG oD9wAWVkL6Hx2VTfAAHKAjtF0vbJCudquGGv/5KoPbahD0NDRu5645Id0EPcg5S/89P+ RkiBCHiDcXNdmbuvojfwGglcwp0nOcXLKCSeV61vQST1IZHg7kAiwZAKuwTIcF5whiB3 qqBQ== MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Received: by 10.50.153.16 with SMTP id vc16mr11895089igb.8.1381737100998; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 00:51:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.64.12.140 with HTTP; Mon, 14 Oct 2013 00:51:40 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <20131014072118.8a49bd58.freebsd@edvax.de> References: <20131013172430.71AA26018E@smtp.hushmail.com> <20131014040742.d03fa5bd.freebsd@edvax.de> <20131014072118.8a49bd58.freebsd@edvax.de> Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 03:51:40 -0400 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Reinstall without reformat From: Mehmet Erol Sanliturk To: Polytropon Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.14 Cc: Kenta Suzumoto , FreeBSD Questions Mailing List 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 07:51:41 -0000 On Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 1:21 AM, 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? > > 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