First of all, to reduce the "critical time", divide the backup into two steps: 1) Copy all data files, 2) Use your favorite backup program to compress this copy.
In VFP, I think you could solve the 24/7 problem with an audit feature: every change in every table triggers an addition to an additional table.
Or change to C/S. Servers like Oracle have built-in support for a "hot" backup.
Hilmar.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
