PokerTracker

i'm looking at a system reinstall and am not completely sure how to backup the database. i see i can export all the hands and presumably reimport them. is this the way to go? it appears the db resides in /postgresql/8.3/data/base. if i save and restore the /data/ dir will i be back in business? sorry if this is aggravatingly basic.

You should of course keep a copy of the hand history files just in case, but to back up the database you can't just copy the data folders.
See the end of the Database / Postgres FAQ where the backup/restore process is described.