I have previously saved a copy of /var/lib/mysql/ddms directory ("ddms" is the schema name). Now I installed a new MySQL on a freshly installed Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS by running apt-get install mysql-server, I believe version 5.1 was installed. After I copy the ddms directory under /var/lib/mysql, some of its tables work fine, these are the tables with an associated set of three files: a .frm file, a .MYD file and a .MYI file.

However, there are two tables with a different set of files: a .frm file and a .ibd file. These two tables didn't show up in the table list in phpMyAdmin. When I look at the error log, it says:

[ERROR] Cannot find or open table ddms/dictionary_item from
the internal data dictionary of InnoDB though the .frm file for the
table exists. Maybe you have deleted and recreated InnoDB data
files but have forgotten to delete the corresponding .frm files
of InnoDB tables, or you have moved .frm files to another database?
or, the table contains indexes that this version of the engine
doesn't support.


Please help with restoring these two tables. Thanks.

InnoDB tables cannot be copied the same way that MyISAM tables can.

Just copying the .frm and .ibd files from one location to another is asking for trouble. Copying the .frm and .ibd file of an InnoDB table is only good if and only if you can guarantee that the tablespace id of the .ibd file matches exactly with the tablespace id entry in the metdata of the ibdata1 file.

I wrote two posts in DBA StackExchange about this tablespace id concept


Table compression in InnoDB? (under the heading 'Restoring Databases')
How to Recover an InnoDB table whose files were moved around


Here is excellent link on how to reattach any .ibd file to ibdata1 in the event of mismatched tablespace ids : http://www.chriscalender.com/?tag=innodb-error-tablespace-id-in-file. After reading this, you should come to the immediate realization that copying .ibd files is just plain crazy.

You could apply the suggestions from the Chris Calendar link, or you could go back to the old installation of mysql, startup up mysql, and then mysqldump the ddms database. Then, import that mysqldump into your new mysql instance. Trust me, this would be far easier.
