I backed up my Ubuntu 14.04 system using rsync to a USB stick, but apparently it wasn't formatted for booting. The original disk has been erased and I put a fresh install of Ubuntu on it. In migrating my data I forgot to dump one of my postgres databases to SQL, and I need to migrate it to my new install of Ubuntu.
I'm considering formatting a bootable disk and then attempting to rsync my old system to that for disk so I can boot and dump my database to SQL. But that's a discussion for a different forum.
I'm wondering if it's possible to use the data files from my old system to restore my database (i.e. copy /var/lib/postgresql/9.3/main) from my old install to my new install? Has anyone ever done this? I did try just copying the data file but it caused Postgres to break beyond repair. I had to delete it entirely and reinstall.
I know it's possible with MySQL, but I'm less familiar with Postgres.
Thanks!
postgresql.confandpg_hba.conffrom/etc/postgresql, since they're stored outside the PostgreSQL data directory. Please be more specific about "break beyond repair". – Craig Ringer Jan 7 at 0:36