fast_restore_large_postgres_database.md

This is a really fast way to restore a large Postgres database by omiting the indexes and restoring them later (if necessary).

1. Dump database.

   pg_dump -Fc --no-owner my_db -f ~/my_db.dump

2. Create the summary files. One for the indexes and another for everything else.

   pg_restore -l ~/my_db.dump | grep -v 'INDEX public' > ~/my_db.list pg_restore -l ~/my_db.dump | grep 'INDEX public' > ~/my_db-indexes.list

3. Restore everything except the indexes (should be pretty fast).

   pg_restore --no-owner --jobs=4 --verbose --use-list=$HOME/my_db.list --dbname=my_db ~/my_db.dump

4. If desired, restore the indexes (this part's slow and index creation locks the database).

   pg_restore --no-owner --jobs=4 --verbose --use-list=$HOME/my_db-indexes.list --dbname=my_db ~/my_db.dump