Hi, I've traced a long running piece of SQL and observed the following in the trace file (only a small sample): WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 5 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 4 p1=202 p2=641041 p3=1 WAIT #3: nam='direct path read' ela= 3 p1=202 p2=641040 p3=1 ................. My understanding is that p1 is the filenum#, p2 the block# and p3 the block count. So my question is why is Oracle continually re-reading the same 2 blocks? Oracle version 9.2.0.4 64 bit on Solaris. Filenum# 202 is an Oracle temp file. The SQL was in the middle of a sort merge at the time. Thanks, Chris Dunscombe www.christallize.com -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l