>See either the last issue of FoxPro Advisor (or previous month) which had an
>article on reindexing-packing tables WHILE USERS ARE STILL ON SYSTEM.
> Basically, places a FLOCK() on the file and copies the table from the server
>to a local computer for packing and processing and then copying the newly
>reindexed\packed tables back to the server. This allows users to be on the
>system in READ-ONLY mode while most of the processing is taking place (the
>only down-time is when you have to copy the tables back to the server).

Yes, I've heard of that technique, it can be done for smallish tables. But we're talking about very large tables, the reindexing takes over 1/2 hour on just one table, not to mention a couple hours total insert time for all table updates. Might as well kick users off as have them disabled for all that time (they're used to edit access)...or better yet, do it at odd hours, that's my usual policy...