having trouble restoring a database from files

["Trefethen, Zachary J" <zachary(dot)j(dot)trefethen(at)lmco(dot)com>]

Hello –

 

I searched through the archives but didn’t find a solution to the exact situation I am in – please help if you can.

 

had a server go down (running RHEL3), don’t have one of my databases backed up, but have the /var/lib/pgsql/ directory backed up.

 

I set up a new server and installed postgres on it, then untar’d my /var/lib/pgsql files into the new server, to attempt to restore the databases, but now postgresql won’t start.

 

[root(at)ew root]# service rhdb start

Starting PostgreSQL - Red Hat Edition service:             [FAILED]

 

Any ideas on what might be preventing the service from starting?

 

Thanks!

 

Josh