copying a database without dumping it

[Marc Brünink <mbruen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi list,

I know this was asked a lot of times on this mailing list. But actually 
no reply satisfied me :-)
However: I've a running postgres database. It's about 6 GB big. Now I 
want to copy this database to another host. Clearly pg_dumpall comes to 
the mind. But there're 2 problems:

1. The new host hasn't got an internet connection. So I've to copy the 
data via DVD. Doesn't sound like a problem, eh? But it is! I've to copy 
the database to 4 different hosts. So let's calculate: 4 hosts, about 
30 GB of sql statements (plain), therefore about 8 DVDs = lot's of 
annoying DVD changes. Which brings me to the next problem. Time.

2. All these 4 hosts have to be updated within 2-3 hours. Which is 
simply impossible with a plain text export. If I remember correctly the 
initial import of the data took about 3-4 hours. On a Sun 240. So I'll 
took much longer on a (much slower) i386 system.

Because of these problems I tought about just cp the data folder. This 
didn't work. Is there some sort of evil trick to do so? Is postgres 
binary compatible? (Wouldn't be a huge problem if it's not)

Now I'l try a custom dump. Perhaps this will suffice. But I guess it's 
impossible for a dump to be as fast as a cp.  So if a cp would be 
possible I would favour it. Oh, and did I tell: Everything have to be 
done tommorow..... *sigh*


Many thanks
Marc