Vanessa Lopez <v.lopez@open.ac.uk> writes:
> What do you mean by we can't simply take a filesystem copy of a
> running database? :-O ... How should we then do the backups (so next
> time I will not have the same problem again) ?
Read the fine manual ...
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/backup.html
Section 24.2 explains the pitfalls of trying to use a filesystem-level
backup. It is possible to do, but you have to be very very careful
to get a consistent snapshot.
regards, tom lane