>>>>Only if the Database/Application is shadow copy or open file backup aware.
>>>>
>>>>Not only does the Parent table in a database have to send edits to temporary storage, but so do all child tables and dependencies which then update the main storage tables after the snapshot complete command is issued.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Most backup software that has true open file backup capability has it only for file type that it has a specific client for - the client AFAIK is used to read the data record for record from the supported file type.
>>
>>I've been using "Retrospect", which is a great (but awkward-to-configure) backup software and claims to back up ANY open file. I haven't tested it thoroughly, but so far it seems to back up any DBF file open at the time the backup runs.
>>
>>Pertti
>
>We had a client a couple of years back that used Retrospect with MDB and DBF data. They had serious problems when they finally had to do a restore (they had never tested the restore process). That's when they called us to try to uncorrupt each table.
>
>Make sure you TEST the integrity of restored tables that were actually in use when they were backed up!

Will do -- thanks for the warning and the heads-up.

Pertti