September 26, 2024: PostgreSQL 17 Released!
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Chapter 25. Backup and Restore

As with everything that contains valuable data, PostgreSQL databases should be backed up regularly. While the procedure is essentially simple, it is important to have a clear understanding of the underlying techniques and assumptions.

There are three fundamentally different approaches to backing up PostgreSQL data:

  • SQL dump

  • File system level backup

  • Continuous archiving

Each has its own strengths and weaknesses; each is discussed in turn in the following sections.