Re: restoring a file system backed-up data dir

On Tue, Oct 10, 2006 at 05:31:08PM -0700, Richard Broersma Jr wrote:
> My test server's sw/raid array recently died where I kept my PostgreSQL data directory.  I have
> both a full dump of the database and a file system back-up of the data directory.
>
> I tried to restore my file system back-up first since it is a "fresher" copy.  However, I am
> unable to start postgres.  The exit status I get from pg_ctl is "127" but I haven't yet found any
> documentation relating to it exit-codes.  There are no logs file created when I try to start up
> postgresql, so I am a little unsure as to what direction I should take.
>
> Should I just make do with the older pg_dump file and re-initdb or is there a way to salvage the
> restored file system back-up.

You can't simply take a filesystem backup and hope it will work; it
won't. You have to either:

shut down the database during the backup
take a filesystem snapshot
use PITR
--
Jim Nasby                                            jim@nasby.net
EnterpriseDB      http://enterprisedb.com      512.569.9461 (cell)