Controlfile autobackup is meant to solve this problem + it's also a good idea to backup (print somewhere) the DBID of your DB(s) The restore procedure for the controlfile in the scenario you described is: rman TARGET / set dbid=... (get the dbid from v$database on the target DB) run { # CUT or edit if needed -> # set until time = "to_date('24-AUG-2006 00:00:00','dd-mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss')"; allocate channel t1 type sbt_tape; restore controlfile from autobackup; } exit; Cheers, L. PS: why compressed backupsets aren't they very slow and CPU consuming? ________________________________ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ryan_gaffuri@xxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 10:43 PM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RMAN without a repository and a total site loss I am using RMAN without the repository. I want to plan in case we have a total site loss and all I have left are my tape backups which are all compressed backupsets. So my control files with my catalog are gone. What do you recommend as the best way to recover if this happens? Should I backup my control files seperately on top of the backupset? Should I do backup controlfile to trace?