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Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2013 23:01:02 -0600 (MDT)
From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com>
To: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de>
Subject: Re: Reinstall without reformat
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Cc: Kenta Suzumoto <kentas@hush.com>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
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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.

>> I have one directory of data that I want to keep.
>
> You should still make a backup, because "I want to keep" does
> imply exactly that in regards of an OS installation. :-)

Absolutely.  With no backup, only one tiny thing can go wrong and the 
data is gone.