Re: Forgot to dump old data before re-installing machine

Stefan Schwarzer <stefan.schwarzer@grid.unep.ch> writes:
> I re-installed my machine and "forgot" to dump my database(s). I
> naturally still have the whole database folders. For the moment I
> installed the "old" postgres version (8.1) to be able to read my data.
> But how can I read them? It seems that it doesn't work that I just
> overwrite the new database folder with the old one... Would be too
> simple, I guess...

Should work, if you've got the whole $PGDATA directory tree.  Maybe
you forgot to stop the postmaster while copying the backup into place?

            regards, tom lane