Postgresql Change Data Directory in the service

1. Create the Override Drop-In

1. Open the drop-in editor for the service:

sudo systemctl edit postgresql-16.service

2. In the editor that appears, paste the following above the “### Lines below…” comment:

[Service]
Environment=PGDATA=/your/custom/pgdata/path

### Lines below this comment will be discarded

3. Save and exit: • Nano: Ctrl+O → Enter, then Ctrl+X • Vim: :wq → Enter

2. Reload systemd and Restart PostgreSQL

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart postgresql-16
sudo systemctl enable postgresql-16

3. Manual File Creation (Alternative)

If the editor method fails, create the drop-in file directly:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/postgresql-16.service.d
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/postgresql-16.service.d/override.conf <<EOF
[Service]
Environment=PGDATA=/your/custom/pgdata/path
EOF
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart postgresql-16

4. Verify Your New Data Directory

• Check service status:

systemctl status postgresql-16

• Confirm inside PostgreSQL:

sudo -u postgres psql -c "SHOW data_directory;"

• The output should match /your/custom/pgdata/path.