Re: hosed database

>Backups - yes. Is there any way I can use that to access data generated
>after the last backup? However, my lab is very busy, and backing up
>seems to be a half a day process so the last backup is several months old.

We need to back up (ouch, sorry) a few steps here. Backup in Oracle terminology is a specific procedure which varies based on... well, several things. If you mean somebody made a copy of Oracle files, they better have been in "backup mode." Do you know if that is the case? Please explain the _exact_ procedure of your backup.

It may be possible to recover your data beyond the backup if you were in "archivelog mode" and have kept all the archived logs. Strange as it sounds, some places have been able to recover many months worth of data this way. If you are not in archivelog mode, fuggedaboudit.

This really isn't something for a total newbie, but Frank and others are willing to help. It will be painful. First off, see if you can find out what your ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID environment variables are. Then find a file called init%ORACLE_SID%.ora ... oh, are you on Windows? It might be in %ORACLE_HOME%\dbs . That file would give us some clues about whether you are in archivelog mode, where various important files are and such.

jg

--
@home.com is bogus.
I wanted to make a comment about running chromatographs for several
months, but it's been 30 years since I've done one, so maybe the tech
has changed.