At 09:01 PM 7/01/2005 -0500, you wrote:

>On restore, what is "Create shadow files"?

Don't know the context of this - some third-party tool? I'd assume it's
the "negative" of the -k[ill] switch. By default, if you have shadows
defined in your database, they will be recreated when you restore the
database. If you use the -k switch on the restore command, the shadows
won't be restored. "Create shadow files" looks like just "reinforcing the
positive" to me.

If your question means "I don't know what shadow files are": briefly, they
are run-time copies (kinda') of your database file(s) that the engine
maintains as long as there are connections active. The copied is "warts
'n' all", so it's in no sense a backup or replication or a cure for
corruption. It can't be connected to as a database until or unless the
database itself dies, e.g. from a head crash or whatever - not useful
unless you let the shadows be written to a separate disk that won't catch
fire in sympathy.

For more info about shadowing, see The Firebird Book or Borland's IB 6 beta
OpGuide.pdf and LangRef.pdf.

./hb

P.S. Do I get a new Guiness record for NCD? (Negative Construct Density)