That is pretty cool. I'd never heard of it before. Here is the MOS Doc ID for more info: 1210656.1 From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Niall Litchfield The source of the quote was likely the nfs clonedb feature introduced in 11g (maybe R2). Kevin Closson has an intro at http://kevinclosson.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/oracle-database-11g-direct-nfs-clonedb-feature-part-i/ it is a cool feature, but probably won't help Alan. ________________________________ Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message or attachments hereto. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of this company shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.