Re: Restore database from files (not dump files)?

In article <200612011732.kB1HWUk19778@momjian.us>, bruce@momjian.us
says...
> wheel wrote:
> > Can a pgsql 8.1 database be restored from the raw file? For one database
> > I have only the files found in  the base folder, example C:\PostgreSQL
> > \data\base\16404, there are many files called 1247, 1248, etc (no
> > extension). I think these are the files that make up the database? For
> > this db I don't have a dump file, just what is on disk. I do know the
> > users and passwords etc. I've hunted around quite a bit in various
> > places and most of the restore discussions center around files created
> > with pg_dump.
>
> Uh, do you have the entier /data directory tree?  If so, just restore
> the directory start it up a binary.
>
>
Yes I have the entire dir/file set. But what does "If so, just restore
the directory start it up a binary" mean? Restore the dir, you mean copy
it to it's location under \base? What does start it up a(s?) binary
mean? I'm new to postgres.

I have copied the folders back to the base dir (like C:\PostgreSQL\data
\base\16404) if that's step one but what after that?