[kwlug-disc] how to recover a mysql database when getting "Unknown table engine 'InnoDB???" err

[Robert P. J. Day]

  as a followup to something i asked once upon a time, i'm trying to
recover the tables and data for a mysql database given what is alleged
to be the ibdata1, ib_logfile[12] files and the database directory
itself with all of the .frm files, and i *think* i'm getting close.

  on my current ubuntu 10.04 system, i wasn't using mysql for anything
critical so i just popped into the /var/lib/mysql directory, totally
overwrote those files and added that database directory, restarted
mysql, popped in and "show databases;" shows the db in question.

  i can then "use" the database, and "show tables;" does, in fact,
show me the tables.  and then ... not good.

  doing a "describe <tablename>;" gives me:

ERROR 1286 (42000): Unknown table engine 'InnoDB...

where the string "InnoDB" has a small number of unprintable characters
after it.

  i have no idea if the ibdata1 or log files have been corrupted, but
the fact that i got as far as i did was promising -- i could see the
database, i could select it and i could list its tables.  but i can't
get any further than that.

  i'm open to suggestions, and i also plan on going to the ubuntu hour
this evening so if anyone wanted to sit down and give me a hand to
solve this at ubuntu hour, i'm willing to compensate them for their
time.

rday

-- 

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Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

        Top-notch, inexpensive online Linux/OSS/kernel courses
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Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
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