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Backing up the closed data files

You can just make a copy of closed data files. This action applies to cases when you are not planning to change the location of the files, the character set or the Oracle version, so you won't need to perform a complete export.

Procedure

  1. To make a copy of closed data files, open a command line window and set the ORACLE_SID and ORACLE_HOME environment variables. For example, on Windows:
    set ORACLE_SID=ISH
    set ORACLE_HOME=C:\Oracle\Product\VERSION\db_1

    where VERSION is your Oracle version.

  2. Start SQL Plus:
    SQLPLUS /NOLOG
  3. Force a database to close by typing the following. The goal is to do this quickly enough so that no-one can make a connection and alter the database, ensuring that you copy a stable file version.
    shutdown abort
    startup open
    shutdown normal
    All pending connections are closed by force. The startup open command checks the database and the shutdown normal command closes all database files.