Re: restoring an old database to a new instance -- possible ?

"Gregory S. Williamson" <gsw(at)globexplorer(dot)com> writes:
> Using PostSQL 7.4 on a linux server, we have one postgres instance with two databases, "gex_runtime" and "mq_geoloc." We had a mishap in which we ran out of disk space. The failure occured in writing to the gex_runtime database.
> Then an unfortunate slip of an admin's keyboard led to the deletion of the gex_runtime data itself under the $PGDATA directory. As far as I can tell the mq_geoloc database files (about 3 gigs worth) were undamaged.

> We moved the mq_geoloc files to a safe location, and now have taken a copy of the runtime database from another server and recreated our server as far as the runtime database goes.

> My question is whether there is anyway of retrieving the old geoloc database ? Or is my reading of these files total out-of-line with reality ?

If you saved the *whole* $PGDATA directory tree including pg_clog and so
on, then there's nothing at all wrong with the mq_geoloc database. Just
don't try to connect to gex_runtime. I'd fire up a postmaster and
pg_dump mq_geoloc, then reload that data into your new installation.

regards, tom lane