That depends on the question. There are some types of information that are ONLY available in a dump file. -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Ryan Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 4:49 PM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Oracle dumps how useful are the dump files? ----- Original Message ----- From: Cary <mailto:cary.millsap@xxxxxxxxxx> Millsap To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 4:21 PM Subject: RE: Oracle dumps Exactly. He teaches only rarely, so the problem becomes finding an event where he's teaching. But this is an easier problem to solve than trying to read block dumps without help.