Leyne, Sean wrote:

>I can't see how the location of where the backup is going makes a
>difference.
>
>

Gbak is a logical database backup that is independent of software
version, machine architecture, operating system, and is incapable of
propogating database corruption. NBak, as I understand, operates
strictly on the physical database, and is tightly bound to the system on
which it was taken. If you were to do a NBak before installing, say, a
bum beta version, you're screwed. NBak is also perfectly happy to
propogate undetected database corruption. A GBak can always be restored
(though you may have to turn off constraints). NBak, at best, requires
the original environment, and if that environment turns out to have been
shaky, you're screwed.

I'm not arguing that NBak isn't a good operation system for rapid
disaster recovery. I am arguing that it's next to useless as an
archival backup utility. Some folks want to operational advantages of
incremental backup, others want the security of an archival backup, and
most want both, each under appropriate conditions.

Personally, I'd also like a simple database clone operation to make a
faithful image copy while the database is running.



--

Jim Starkey
Netfrastructure, Inc.
978 526-1376