Problem using pg_dump in Windows 7 I am trying to copy a remote database onto my local machine using the following command 

C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.1\bin&gt;pg_dump -h remote_server -U remote_user_name -c database_name | psql -a -h localhost -d local_database -U local_user_name


While doing so, it encounters an error saying data for the column not found. 

Based on information from this thread I would guess that presence of characters like new line, ellipsis, right arrow in character varying column just before the column on which it errors out could be one of the reason.

So what could I do to circumvent this problem? One option is I rewrite that column, but there could many such data rows and I am not fond of this band aid type solution. I am a database noob so not sure which other documentations should I look into.

Thanks
You are using plain text dump and that's why it break on those characters. 
Try with custom format and use pg_restore for restoring the database.

check this tutorial

Be aware that you need to copy also user rights or recreate them on new machine related with the database.