Re: pg_ [dump & restore] invalid archive problem

"John-Paul Delaney" <John-Paul.Delaney@wfp.org> writes:
> Using the command syntax directly from man pg_dump:
>       pg_dump -Ft -b mydb > mydb.tar
>       pg_restore -d mydb mydb.tar
> I invariably (tried various attempts) get the following error:
> "pg_restore: [archiver] input file does not appear to be a valid archive"

Which PG version are you using?  There was a bug for awhile that would
cause pg_restore to fail to identify tar-format archives automatically,
so you had to specify -Ft at restore time too:
    pg_restore -Ft -d mydb mydb.tar

Other than that, this looks right to me.  The nearby suggestion to use
psql is definitely wrong --- you use psql for plain-text dumps, but
pg_restore for -Ft and -Fc dumps.

(BTW, in general I'd recommend -Fc over -Ft, unless you have some
compelling reason to want to look at the dump with tools other than
pg_restore.  The custom-format code is better tested, for one thing, as
evidenced by the fact that this bug went undetected for a good while.)

            regards, tom lane