diff --git a/.github/helper/install.sh b/.github/helper/install.sh
index 34e777506c9..27928ee8bbc 100644
--- a/.github/helper/install.sh
+++ b/.github/helper/install.sh
@@ -297,14 +297,10 @@ if [ "$DB" == "postgres" ];then
     echo "travis" | psql -h 127.0.0.1 -p 5432 -c "CREATE DATABASE test_frappe" -U postgres;
     echo "travis" | psql -h 127.0.0.1 -p 5432 -c "CREATE USER test_frappe WITH PASSWORD 'test_frappe'" -U postgres;
 
-    # Disposable CI DB: durability off for speed (postgres fsyncs every commit by default, which
-    # dominates a commit-heavy suite). All reloadable, no restart. The postgres workflow runs a
-    # service-container DB and never calls start-db.sh, so the flags must be applied here.
-    echo "travis" | psql -h 127.0.0.1 -p 5432 -U postgres \
-        -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET synchronous_commit = 'off'" \
-        -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET fsync = 'off'" \
-        -c "ALTER SYSTEM SET full_page_writes = 'off'" \
-        -c "SELECT pg_reload_conf()";
+    # Durability-off for speed (no fsync/synchronous_commit/full_page_writes) is applied by
+    # start-db.sh's postgres `-o` flags on every start — setup job AND each test shard — so it is
+    # NOT repeated here. The postgres workflow runs in-runner via start-db.sh, not a service
+    # container.
 fi
 
 cd ~/frappe-bench || exit
diff --git a/.github/workflows/server-tests-postgres.yml b/.github/workflows/server-tests-postgres.yml
index 8cd50f235f0..98141162d09 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/server-tests-postgres.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/server-tests-postgres.yml
@@ -108,7 +108,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Stop DB and stage datadir
         run: |
           PG_BIN=$(ls -d /usr/lib/postgresql/*/bin | sort -V | tail -1)
-          "$PG_BIN/pg_ctl" -D /home/runner/pgdata -m fast -w stop || true
+          # Clean shutdown so the baked datadir is consistent. Do NOT swallow a failed stop with
+          # `|| true`: moving and tarring a still-running cluster ships a torn datadir the shards
+          # cannot crash-recover (full_page_writes is off). Fail the job instead — mirrors the
+          # MariaDB sister's "don't bake a dirty datadir" guard.
+          "$PG_BIN/pg_ctl" -D /home/runner/pgdata -m fast -w stop
           mv /home/runner/pgdata /home/runner/frappe-bench/pgdata
 
       - name: Package bench for test shards