> The "completely sdhut down the database" command would be:
>
> gfix -shut full -attach 0 <database>
>

Still no luck in closing my database so that I can move it, etc...

I tried this two different ways and was not successful in really "closing" the database

gfix -shut full -attach 0 <database>
gfix -shut full -force 0 <database>

and the database still remained open (the date/time stamp was not updated)... due to an application that was connected to the database.

After a few minutes, I killed the end-user app and received the error message

---------------------------
ITS Notes
---------------------------
database scmaster shutdown

can't format message 13:98 -- message file C:\Apps\Clients\firebird.msg not found

Error Code: 208.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

... and immediately after that (the last connection to the db was terminated) the date/timestamp was updated (and I am assuming that the file has now been closed)

Therefore, it appears to me that in order to move my old production database to a "hold" directory and then place my newly backed-up and restored database back to where my aliases.conf file is pointing (namely my production directory), I __must__ shut Firebird down, move the files, and then restart Firebird.... unless some kind person can point out what I am doing wrong.

Many thanks,
-Raymond