Re: vacuumdb problem v7.4.8

Juliann Meyer <Julie(dot)Meyer(at)noaa(dot)gov> writes:
> vacuumdb: vacuuming of database "adb_ob72orn" failed: ERROR: could not
> read block 18658 of relation "pecrsep_time_ind": Input/output error

This says read() failed with errno EIO, ie the operating system reported
a hardware failure while trying to read that disk block.

> The Elec. Technicians at first thought it was an issue with one of the
> hard drives, but a very thorough check of the hardware has eliminated
> this possibility.

Not thorough enough I would say, because there is no other cause of that
error code than hardware problems.

You do know that PG 7.4.8 is nine minor releases behind the times?
That's not the cause of your immediate problem, but personally
I'd suggest an update before some other bug bites you. See
http://developer.postgresql.org/pgdocs/postgres/release.html

regards, tom lane