HELP backing up db on dead machine

we're having a bit of a problem with one of out machines' hard drives--
which happens to be running mysql. It's os x 10.3 server and running
apple's default install of mysql. The mysql server is no longer
operational and we're simply trying to pull our database files from
the drive before we perform a low-level reformat of the bad drive. Can
someone help me locate these files and also, would they have the table
structures embedded along with them so that we could easily recreate
the db structure and records on another machine. Help would be GREATLY
appreciated--thanks!

keith

On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:25:40 -0700 (PDT), TheKeith wrote:
> we're having a bit of a problem with one of out machines' hard drives--
> which happens to be running mysql. It's os x 10.3 server and running
> apple's default install of mysql. The mysql server is no longer
> operational and we're simply trying to pull our database files from
> the drive before we perform a low-level reformat of the bad drive. Can
> someone help me locate these files and also, would they have the table
> structures embedded along with them so that we could easily recreate
> the db structure and records on another machine. Help would be GREATLY
> appreciated--thanks!

Restore from your most recent mysqldump output. You were doing those
regularly, right?

If not, you'll find the data directory listed in your my.cnf file, which
is PROBABLY in /etc/, as a configuration parameter called (oddly enough)
"datadir". So long as you are copying ALL the files off and reinstalling
*exactly* the same version of MySQL that you had before, you've got a
pretty good chance of getting it operational again. But this isn't the
right way to back up MySQL regularly, so once you've got the thing
recovered, you're going to schedule regular mysqldump runs, aren't you?

--
51. If one of my dungeon guards begins expressing concern over the conditions
in the beautiful princess' cell, I will immediately transfer him to a
less people-oriented position.
--Peter Anspach's list of things to do as an Evil Overlord