Greetings wise and knowledgeable citizens of the interwebs, I am a relative newbie to databases. In a nutshell, I'm having trouble restoring my backup of a database. Some of the data was exported and put in spreadsheets, where it is safely stored, but some was not, and I would like to get that data back.
Now the details: I had a database that I was using to store data from a radio reciever. It was basically installed and set up by other people, and now I've inherited it and it's my problem. The data was radio signal strength data from radio collared mice (I'm a biologist). All went well, and by the end of the summer I had a nice pile of data. We decided to move the whole system to another computer, so we created a backup of the database, using the "backup" function in PGAdmin. I just used the dropdown menu and foolishly assumed that if I told it to backup the database that it would, and everything would be fine when I tried to open the file. I didn't pay much attention to the settings (because I'm a newbie), and probably just used the defaults. Then we installed PGAdmin and PostgreSQL (same versions, 8.2.4 and 1.6.3 respectively) on the new computer, and we're trying to restore the database from the backup file. The original computer and the original database have since died, so all that is left of the database is this backup file. This is the error message I get: Quote: C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.2\bin\pg_restore.exe -i -h localhost -p 5432 -U postgres -d postgres -a --disable-triggers -v "C:\Documents and Settings\pineBushAdmin\Desktop\database backup\5-6-08(9-25-08).backup" pg_restore: connecting to database for restore pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET alert_requests_request_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET alert_types_type_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET alert_users_user_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET animals_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET antennatypes_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET arudeploys_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET arus_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET bursts_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET channelsettings_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET commtypes_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET deployments_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET people_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET sensors_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET species_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET transmittermodes_id_seq pg_restore: executing SEQUENCE SET transmitters_id_seq pg_restore: disabling triggers for alert_requests pg_restore: restoring data for table "alert_requests" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error while PROCESSING TOC: pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1823; 0 26132 TABLE DATA alert_requests postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] could not execute query: ERROR: column "user_name" of relation "alert_requests" does not exist Command was: COPY alert_requests (request_id, type_id, animal_id, is_active, last_event, event_time_span, alert_action, user_name, table_... pg_restore: enabling triggers for alert_requests pg_restore: disabling triggers for alert_types pg_restore: restoring data for table "alert_types" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1824; 0 26139 TABLE DATA alert_types postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "pk_alert_types_1" CONTEXT: COPY alert_types, line 1: "1 no signal" pg_restore: enabling triggers for alert_types pg_restore: disabling triggers for alert_users pg_restore: restoring data for table "alert_users" pg_restore: enabling triggers for alert_users pg_restore: disabling triggers for animals pg_restore: restoring data for table "animals" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1826; 0 26147 TABLE DATA animals postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "newanimals_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY animals, line 1: "1 1 1 3" pg_restore: enabling triggers for animals pg_restore: disabling triggers for antennas pg_restore: restoring data for table "antennas" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1827; 0 26151 TABLE DATA antennas postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "antennas_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY antennas, line 1: "1 2 1 0 2007-08-31 00:00:00 1 10" pg_restore: enabling triggers for antennas pg_restore: disabling triggers for antennatypes pg_restore: restoring data for table "antennatypes" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1828; 0 26154 TABLE DATA antennatypes postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "antennatypes_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY antennatypes, line 1: "1 Omni directional - Ringo Ranger" pg_restore: enabling triggers for antennatypes pg_restore: disabling triggers for arucalibration pg_restore: restoring data for table "arucalibration" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1829; 0 26158 TABLE DATA arucalibration postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "pk_arucalibration" CONTEXT: COPY arucalibration, line 1: "1017 1017cal9.cal 1 1" pg_restore: enabling triggers for arucalibration pg_restore: disabling triggers for arudeploys pg_restore: restoring data for table "arudeploys" pg_restore: enabling triggers for arudeploys pg_restore: disabling triggers for arulocs pg_restore: restoring data for table "arulocs" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1831; 0 26164 TABLE DATA arulocs postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "newarulocs_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY arulocs, line 1: "1 fall07grid pinebush 593866 4730021 18t 42.71694 -73.85360" pg_restore: enabling triggers for arulocs pg_restore: disabling triggers for aruopcond pg_restore: restoring data for table "aruopcond" pg_restore: enabling triggers for aruopcond pg_restore: disabling triggers for arus pg_restore: restoring data for table "arus" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1833; 0 26169 TABLE DATA arus postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "aru_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY arus, line 1: "1017 1017" pg_restore: enabling triggers for arus pg_restore: disabling triggers for bursts pg_restore: restoring data for table "bursts" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1834; 0 26173 TABLE DATA bursts postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: null value in column "burst" violates not-null constraint CONTEXT: COPY bursts, line 1: "91844 14 2000-01-01 00:04:00 \N \N \N" pg_restore: enabling triggers for bursts pg_restore: disabling triggers for channelsettings pg_restore: restoring data for table "channelsettings" pg_restore: enabling triggers for channelsettings pg_restore: disabling triggers for commtypes pg_restore: restoring data for table "commtypes" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1836; 0 26182 TABLE DATA commtypes postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "commtypes_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY commtypes, line 1: "1 freewave" pg_restore: enabling triggers for commtypes pg_restore: disabling triggers for deployments pg_restore: restoring data for table "deployments" pg_restore: enabling triggers for deployments pg_restore: disabling triggers for nosignals pg_restore: restoring data for table "nosignals" pg_restore: enabling triggers for nosignals pg_restore: disabling triggers for oldantennas pg_restore: restoring data for table "oldantennas" pg_restore: enabling triggers for oldantennas pg_restore: disabling triggers for oldarudeploys pg_restore: restoring data for table "oldarudeploys" pg_restore: enabling triggers for oldarudeploys pg_restore: disabling triggers for olddeployments pg_restore: restoring data for table "olddeployments" pg_restore: enabling triggers for olddeployments pg_restore: disabling triggers for people pg_restore: restoring data for table "people" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1842; 0 26198 TABLE DATA people postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "newpeople_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY people, line 1: "1 Chris grad student 2007-08-30 \N" pg_restore: enabling triggers for people pg_restore: disabling triggers for pulses pg_restore: restoring data for table "pulses" pg_restore: enabling triggers for pulses pg_restore: disabling triggers for realfreqs pg_restore: restoring data for table "realfreqs" pg_restore: enabling triggers for realfreqs pg_restore: disabling triggers for sensors pg_restore: restoring data for table "sensors" pg_restore: enabling triggers for sensors pg_restore: disabling triggers for sexes pg_restore: restoring data for table "sexes" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1846; 0 26210 TABLE DATA sexes postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "newsexes_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY sexes, line 1: "1 male" pg_restore: enabling triggers for sexes pg_restore: disabling triggers for signals pg_restore: restoring data for table "signals" pg_restore: enabling triggers for signals pg_restore: disabling triggers for species pg_restore: restoring data for table "species" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1848; 0 26214 TABLE DATA species postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "species_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY species, line 1: "1 Animalia Rodentia Peromyscus sp. Deer Mouse" pg_restore: enabling triggers for species pg_restore: disabling triggers for transmittermodes pg_restore: restoring data for table "transmittermodes" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1849; 0 26218 TABLE DATA transmittermodes postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "transmittermodes_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY transmittermodes, line 1: "1 pulsed" pg_restore: enabling triggers for transmittermodes pg_restore: disabling triggers for transmitters pg_restore: restoring data for table "transmitters" pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 1850; 0 26222 TABLE DATA transmitters postgres pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed: ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "transmitters_pkey" CONTEXT: COPY transmitters, line 9: "1 109216 none 164541000 Holohil bn2nc 1 160 1 50 \N 1 3300 20 1" pg_restore: enabling triggers for transmitters WARNING: errors ignored on restore: 15 Process returned exit code 1. So it seems to be a "duplicate key" problem (whatever that means...did I mention I'm a newbie?). is this fixable? are there other ways I can get at this data? -- Christopher Collins New York State Museum 3140 Cultural Education Center Albany, NY 12230 Work: (518) 486 2025 Cell: (518) 605 5614
