This is a queestion from a Postgresql novice.
I use Postgresql in a single-user environment on a Mac with OS Sierra. I use AquaFold DataStudio as a client, which is nice but also keeps me woefully ignorant about many aspects of the underlying application.
As I understand it, Postgres data are stored in my homedirectory /users/martin/Library ApplicationSupport/Postgres/var9.5/base/. I have read things on the Web about backing up data to Dropbox (I have 80GB of data) . But that means that my data sit first in the base directory, then in the Dropbox directory from which they are backed up to the Dropbox cloud. So my 80 GB of data take up 160GB on my machine. Is there a way of installing the base directory directly in the Dropbox directory so that the data are stored only once on my machine?
There is a more radical version of that question. I spend a lot of time in a second home, where I have a MacPro that runs the same OS. Would it be possible to move the entire Postgres environment into Dropbox. If that were possible I could use the same Postgres installation in Location 1 and Location 2.
I assume there are 'gotchas' in that scenario, but it seems worth asking. On the the other hand, if the primary location of the base directory inside Dropbox directory, the fileparth from the application to the data would be identical on the two machines. I am the only user of it, and when I go to Location 2 I would make sure that all Dropbox files have properly synched before firing up Postgres. In theory it should work but I am fond of saying that the difference between theory and practice is usually greater in practice than in theory.
With thanks in advance for any advice
Martin Mueller
Professor emeritus of English and Classics
Northwestern University
