Re: Read db files directly

It sounds like the current postgresql is running in one directory, and
you're looking in another directory.  If you can see how postgresql was
started, does it have a -D switch that shows the directory?  My guess is
you could chmod 000 the master directory you're looking at right now and
postgresql could still startup, because it's not where you think it is.

On Fri, 2006-07-28 at 14:43, Mingzuo Shen wrote:
> Thanks Scott.
>
> Well, PostgreSQL runs just fine.
> As I said, I can create new db, new tables, etc.
> everything works just fine for new stuff.
>
> when I say psql shows nothing,
> I really mean "nothing".
> No error messages.
>
> Of course if I create a new db, psql -l shows my
> new db.
>
> psql -l
>        List of databases
>   Name  |  Owner   | Encoding
> --------+----------+-----------
>  testdb | postgres | SQL_ASCII
> (1 row)
>
>
> What I am curious about is, what are
> in those 50 GB worth of files.
> "strings" shows me there are some data that
> I might be interested in saving before I erase
> this pg instance.
>
>
> --- Scott Marlowe <smarlowe@g2switchworks.com> wrote:
>
> > Can you get postgresql to startup?  Are you trying
> > to use pg_ctl to
> > start it or /etc/init.d/postgresql scripts?
> >
> > Basically, you need the database up and running
> > first.  When you "psql
> > and pg_dump don't see those files" what errors are
> > you actually getting?
> >
> > On Fri, 2006-07-28 at 14:23, Mingzuo Shen wrote:
> > > Thanks Aaron.
> > >
> > > No. pg_dump, psql do not "see" those files.
> > > As I said, psql -l shows "nothing".
> > > pg_dumpall outputs nothing.
> > >
> > > strings 3476895975
> > >
> > > for example, does show a lot of text,
> > > some of them seem to be actual data
> > > that I am interested in extracting.
> > >
> > > If I create a new db and create new tables
> > > in the new db, then they work as usual.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --- Aaron Bono <postgresql@aranya.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On 7/22/06, Shen, Mingzuo <mshen@bcm.edu> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >  Hello,
> > > > >
> > > > > I see some OS files (50+ GB total) but cannot
> > see
> > > > anything in psql -l.
> > > > > There seem to be some big tables there.
> > > > > I wonder if there are some tools that would
> > dump
> > > > the tables in text.
> > > > > or, how to make PostgreSQL "connect" to these
> > > > files again?
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > You can dump the whole database contents with
> > > > pg_dump.  This dumps your
> > > > whole database with data into a text file.  Is
> > this
> > > > what you mean?
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> ==================================================================
> > > >    Aaron Bono
> > > >    Aranya Software Technologies, Inc.
> > > >    http://www.aranya.com
> > > >
> > >
> >
> ==================================================================
> > > >
> > >
> > >
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> > broadcast)---------------------------
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>