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<chapter id="backup">
<title>Backup and Restore</title>
<literal>0000000100001234000055CD.007C9330.backup</>. (The second
number in the file name stands for an exact position within the WAL
file, and can ordinarily be ignored.) Once you have safely archived
- the file system backup and the WAL segment files used during the
- backup (as specified in the backup history file), you can delete all
- archived WAL segments with names numerically less. Keep in mind that
- only completed WAL segment files are archived, so there will be delay
- between running <function>pg_stop_backup</> and the archiving of
- all WAL segment files needed to make the file system backup
- consistent.
+ the file system backup and the WAL segment files used during the
+ backup (as specified in the backup history file), all archived WAL
+ segments with names numerically less are no longer needed to recover
+ the file system backup and may be deleted. However, you should
+ consider keeping several backup sets to be absolutely certain that
+ you are can recover your data. Keep in mind that only completed WAL
+ segment files are archived, so there will be delay between running
+ <function>pg_stop_backup</> and the archiving of all WAL segment
+ files needed to make the file system backup consistent.
</para>
<para>
The backup history file is just a small text file. It contains the