Hello Maureen, > Does anyone use, or see any problems with, mirroring database files to provide > a quick way to recover in case of a disk problem? > > We aren't yet using RAC, we do have a standby database set up at our disaster > recovery site and we do weekly cold backups of the database. We're thinking > that mirroring the database storage disks would be another layer of > protection. Mirroring your database files is indeed a good idea. That's one of the basic Best Practices of data protection. You might want to read on the « Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture » (MAA) http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/features/availability/maa-090890.html Consider mirroring your OS disk drives too. If you're looking for a quick way to recover your database, check the RMAN « backup as copy » command and the « incrementally updated backup ». Once this is in place and a datafile is broken, you can switch to the copy. It's fast and easy, but requires a lot of disk space. A bit more than twice what your database would use in fact. Let me know if you need more info on that. I do have quite a long list of DocID on that topic at work and could send you those next monday along with the exact RMAN configuration and syntax. HTH, David -- Mobile: +1 514 966 0122 Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrobillard Blog: http://itdavid.blogspot.com/ -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l