To catalog or not to catalog has always been a question that never has had a good answer. So let me put it this way, I have a catalog db and I use it. But I also practice restores without it and don't have a problem. Course it helps to have a tape librarian with lots of memory. Ours likes to retain stuff for 3 years. The controlfile 90 days. Try "restore controlfile from '<media handle>';" where <media handle> = c-<date>-<dbid>-00 if you need something beyond that 90 day point. Dick Goulet Senior Oracle Dba ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Dustin Hayden<DHayden@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: RE: Why I don't like RMAN repositories Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2013 12:53:12 +0000 So what it if ages out you can always just re-catalog it and then restore. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l