Dear Ed Murphy ,
> and all the PostgreSQL files. My question is if I restore this
> snapshot will PostgreSQL work? I know if doing a typical file system
> backup of PostgreSQL I must first stop the postmaster or the backup
> will not produce a useable PostgreSQL system. Is it necessary to stop
> the postmaster for this snapshot backup also?
>
Yes if the snapshot (filesystem) backup and restore is performed when
postmaster is NOT running you can reproduce it.
I have done this with command
dump <-- for file system backup
Filesystem ext3
Regards
Vishal Kashyap