Stefan Schwarzer <stefan.schwarzer@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > After running initdb the postmaster started smoothly. I stopped it, > copied my database files into the same location, started the > postmaster again, and then got this error message: > schwarzers-mac-mini:/usr/local/pgsql schwarzer$ /usr/local/bin/pg_ctl > -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l postgres.log start > pg_ctl: could not open PID file "/usr/local/pgsql/data/ > postmaster.pid": Permission denied You're trying to start the server as yourself (user schwarzer) but the files all belong to user postgres: > drwx------ 16 postgres admin 544 Jan 23 18:23 data The files have to be owned by the user that runs the server. If you want to switch over to doing that as schwarzer, a quick "chown -R" will help. regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly