Is it possible to restore oracle database from *.DBF files? If yes, then how? I really find it hard to deal with backup and restore things in Oracle compared to SQL Server. I have a backup of the whole oraclexe folder including these files.
A:
It needs more than just the DBF files. An active database is writing to redo logs, tablespace data files (the DBFs) and control files. But because it also has information in memory, none of those files is necessarily consistent with each other at any point in time.
If the database was shut down when you took the copy of the whole oraclexe folder, then copying the whole folder back and opening up the database should work, as there would be sufficient consistency for the database to be recovered.
If it was running, then you'd probably have to look into an incomplete recovery, which may (or may not) be successful depending on how long the directory copy took.
If running in Windows, the Start Menu has a 'Backup Database' option under the OracleXE section
Gary
2010-06-14 06:45:13
Thanks! I successfully restored it using my untouched backup copy of the whole oraclexe folder.
marco
2010-06-14 11:32:17