In MySQL can I drop a database by moving the directory containing the database? We ran ran into a problem where MySQL kept crashing because of corruption in one of our databases.  MySQL would start, crash, and then restart.  We determined that the corruption was in a database containing archive tables (i.e. tables using the archive engine).  We weren't able to drop the database in MySQL because it wouldn't stay up long enough to drop it, so we shut down MySQL and moved the directory containing the database to another location.  

This prevented MySQL from crashing, and all of our other databases seem to be working fine.  My question is: is moving the database directory containing the database out of MySQL's data directory a safe way to remove a database?  Is it the same as dropping a database?
SHOW DATABASES;


I suspect it will not show the database that you "moved".

Moving (or deleting) the directory would be unsafe it it contained any InnoDB tables.  It is safe for MyISAM tables, and probably MERGE and Archive.

ibdata1 contains information about InnoDB tables.  Non-InnoDB table types are discovered by looking in the file system.