Afra <aa4(at)cse(dot)buffalo(dot)edu> writes:
> We have run into some problems here which stops us from properly backing
> up the databases using pg_dump. We do have a tarred version of the data
> directory (/usr/local/pgsql/data) which contains databases that we need
> to restore.
> I found out that simply replacing the data/ directory does no good. Is
> there another method in which I can restore databases with the data/
> directory?
Restoring the *entire* data directory should work.
It seems to me that there's a great deal you haven't told us; if you
want useful help it's better to err on the side of too much info,
not too little. For starters, what happens when you try to pg_dump?
regards, tom lane