The instructions below are to restore a full backup. You may also be able to recover deleted messages if you do not need to restore a full backup.

If you just need to restore a database backup, see steps 4 to 7 below.

To restore a full backup of VPOP3,

1. If VPOP3 is already installed, make sure VPOP3 is shut down before starting the restore process
2. Restore the files you made when you backed up VPOP3 - do NOT restore anything in the VPOP3\pgsql folder tree
3. Reinstall VPOP3 into the location where you restored VPOP3. This should reinstall the PostgreSQL database system. Do not start VPOP3 at this time
4. Open a command prompt, and go to the VPOP3 directory
5. If you are restoring the backup over an existing VPOP3 database (especially if the database files are damaged) you will need to DROP the database first. To do this, run pgsql\bin\dropdb -U postgres -p <port number> vpop3. When it prompts for the password enter the PostgreSQL master password - default pgsqlpass. (<port number> is usually 5433)
6. Run pgsql\bin\pg_restore -U postgres -p <port number> -v -C -d postgres DBBACK-<number>.DMP where <number> is the latest number of the database backup made by VPOP3 (check the file timestamps). When it prompts for a password enter the PostgreSQL master password - default pgsqlpass. (<port number> is usually 5433). Note that during this step you may see a couple of errors which are not important: there may be an error about the database already existing, and also an error that the 'plpgsql' language is already installed. (Each of these errors may have several lines in the output). If there are lots of errors, then there may be a problem and you should contact support@pscs.co.uk.
7. Start VPOP3

If you just need to restore a database backup, see steps 4 to 6 below.

To restore a full backup of VPOP3,

1. If VPOP3 is already installed, make sure VPOP3 is shut down before starting the restore process
2. Restore the files you made when you backed up VPOP3 - do NOT restore anything in the VPOP3\pgsql folder tree
3. Restore the registry backup you made as well by double-clicking on the .REG file you made
4. Reinstall VPOP3 into the location where you restored VPOP3. This should reinstall the PostgreSQL database system. Do not start VPOP3 at this time
5. Open a command prompt, and go to the VPOP3 directory
6. If you are restoring the backup over an existing VPOP3 database (especially if the database files are damaged) you will need to DROP the database first. To do this, run pgsql\bin\dropdb -U postgres vpop3. When it prompts for the password enter the PostgreSQL master password - default pgsqlpass.
7. Run pgsql\bin\pg_restore -U postgres -C -d postgres DBBACK-<number>.DMP where <number> is the latest number of the database backup made by VPOP3. When it prompts for a password enter the PostgreSQL master password - default pgsqlpass. Note that during this step you may see a couple of errors which are not important: there may be an error about the database already existing, and also an error that the 'plpgsql' language is already installed. (Each of these errors may have several lines in the output). If there are lots of errors, then there may be a problem and you should contact support@pscs.co.uk.
8. Start VPOP3

When restoring the database backup it may take a very long time (depending on system performance, and the size of the backup). There are some changes you can make to the PostgreSQL configuration before doing the restore to make it quicker. These changes make normal PostgreSQL operation less 'safe', so should be reverted after the restore has completed. It is OK during restore, because if there is a power failure during restore, you will want to start the restore again anyway. If you leave these settings in during normal operation, then a power failure will almost certainly mean the database is corrupted and will need manually restoring!

Do not do this if the PostgreSQL server is used for other things as well!

In the VPOP3\pgsql\data folder:

1. copy the postgresql.conf file to postgresql.conf.normal
2. edit the postgresql.conf file in Notepad
3. add the following to the bottom of the file:

   fsync = off
   maintenance_work_mem = 128MB
   full_page_writes = off
   wal_buffers = 16MB
   checkpoint_segments = 16

4. save the file (as 'postgresql.conf' in the VPOP3\pgsql\data folder)
5. restart the 'VPOP3DB' (or 'PostgreSQL-VPOP3', or 'PostgreSQL') service
6. run the restore procedure
7. rename the postgresql.conf' file to 'postgresql.conf.restore
8. copy the postgresql.conf.normal file back to postgresql.conf
9. restart The'VPOP3DB' (or 'PostgreSQL-VPOP3', or 'PostgreSQL') service

1. Restore backup on Version 2.6 or earlier