# FreeBSD ZFS Root Install Script



## lawg (Nov 29, 2017)

Something happened to my FreeBSD 11.1 installation. Unable to login as user nor root. Had to change root's password to be able to login.

Anyway, going to reinstall FreeBSD 11.1 using ZFS file system can came across the above mentioned item on the website and it state that,


> "But first, what does the script do? The script will remove any partitions from the drive. This is necessary if you use the same install script on the same drive and are just testing installs. We want to make sure we have a clean partition every time."



The website here.
Does this means that every time a re-installation is done, the disk have left overs from previous install?


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## SirDice (Nov 29, 2017)

I suggest you use the regular installer, it supports a variety of installation options. At least until you're comfortable and experienced enough to, basically, do a manual installation.  

Note that you cannot 'convert' an existing system from UFS to ZFS (or vise versa). If you want to switch to ZFS you will need to *remove* all existing partitions and do a clean install.


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## lawg (Nov 29, 2017)

I thought that when you do a installation, the process will wipe everything from the disk? I am using ZFS for my laptop and will re-install using ZFS. Do I need to remove all existing partitions to do a clean re-install? This is the part that confuse me


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## SirDice (Nov 29, 2017)

lawg said:


> I thought that when you do a installation, the process will wipe everything from the disk?


It's been a while since I actually used the installer, so I'm not sure. There used to be an option to edit the partitions beforehand, you can use that to remove the existing paritions. Not sure if that changed recently.



lawg said:


> Do I need to remove all existing partitions to do a clean re-install?


It's always a good idea to start with a clean slate. So it definitely won't hurt.


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## lawg (Nov 29, 2017)

Err, I mean how do I remove all existing partitions to do a clean re-install?

According to the Installation Handbook



> 2.6.4. Root-on-ZFS Automatic Partitioning
> 
> Support for automatic creation of root-on-ZFS installations was added in FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE. This partitioning mode only works with whole disks and will erase the contents of the entire disk.
> [/UNQUOTE]




Presumably a re-installation will wipe the disk clean but then why the ZFS root script then? Does it means that some how the ZFS root partition is not wipe during a re-installation and every re-installation will leave a previous ZFS root partition on the hdd? Is that why the above mentioned item?

Just too much information on the net and some of them contradict each other. I am just confuse which is which.


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## SirDice (Nov 29, 2017)

lawg said:


> Presumably a re-installation will wipe the disk clean but then why the ZFS root script then?


That script seems to originate from a time when bsdinstall(8) wasn't able to do a ZFS install.


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