Re: database repair corruption

Troy Piggins wrote :

> We had a MySQL v4.x database running, and a quick "backup" was
> made by simply copying the /var/lib/mysql dir to a backup
> drive.

This is a poor backup according to me. You rather should use "mysqldump"
tools which is designed for such tasks.

> Copied the /var/lib/mysql dir to another running server with
> MySQL v5 on it in a rush. :-(

AFAIK, you could not assume raw data representation compatibility
between version of MySQL, especially between two major versions (v4-v5).
This means that is unlikely that a data folder wrote by MySQL v4 could
be understood by MySQL v5.

Maybe MyISAM is more flexible regarding that point than let's say
InnoDB, or maybe conversion scripts exist somewhere, but it's anyway not
safe to rely on such assumption.

> Any recommendations on a better restore that won't get corrupted
> tables? Or is hte problem from how it was copied originally?

Try to install a MySQL with the same version that the one you make
backup with. Copy the folder into this fresh installation. If done
correctly, you should be able to get your MySQL running up with the
backup data into it. You could then use mysqldump to export this data,
and finally import them into your MySQL v5 successfully.

[follow up to]

--
Hugo