>If I want to copy production data (dbf, databases, indexes ..) to test environment what would be the best way of doing this without effecting live processes? Backup software is not an option.
Just use commands like COPY, DOS XCOPY, etc. The fact that users have the tables open doesn't impede you copying from them.
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)