Introduction
Every relational database lives and dies by its transaction log. In SQL Server, that’s the transaction log file; in PostgreSQL, it’s the WAL (Write-Ahead Log). It’s the beating heart that guarantees durability, recovery, and replication. Without the log, you wouldn’t have consistency after a crash, point-in-time restore, or reliable replicas.
So the idea of skipping the log sounds almost reckless. Why would anyone in their right mind want to avoid logging?
PostgreSQL gives you exactly that option with UNLOGGED tables. It’s a feature that flips the script: the table still persists on disk, but its writes don’t go into