accumulating a large qty of data that need to be put back, then you could have a 2 stage build.

Can you have your data external to the database to start off with, ie: you are going through a development phase, accumulating data in the database, but then have the data exported into flat file to be available for a rebuild?

If so, then create your database without any data, and then use the copy command to quickly bring it back in.

[link|http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/sql-copy.html|http://www.postgresq...ive/sql-copy.html]

You can have the data saved in non-binary or binary, depending on your speed requirement. You get much better control of what tables are done when, and you can place the data physically on the server before import (if you are doing client server, and the round trip hurts you).