Hello Tom --
a thousand thanks for taking the time to walk through those files.
This could be the kernel's fault, but I'm wondering whether the
> RAID controller is going south. Offhand it seems like the controller
> would be the only place that would be likely to explain both the
> bogus-data and good-data-in-wrong-place behaviors.
>
To clarify a bit further -- on the production server, the data is written to
a 10-disk RAID 1+0, but the pg_xlog directory is symlinked to a separate,
dedicated SATA II disk.
There is a similar setup on the standby server, except that in addition to
the RAID for the data, and a separate SATA II disk for the pg_xlog, there is
another disk (also SATA II) dedicated for the archive of wal files copied
over from the production server.
I mention all this because if the problem is the wal files in the pg_xlog
directory becoming corrupted, and those exist on a dedicated disk (not in a
RAID), then doesn't that indicate that the RAID controller is not involved?
Mason