Recover OS Backup to standby instance w/o archive logs
We do a cold backup of our production database. Because the 'important' data is entirely replaced nightly by importing from our legacy appliction management has decided that it's OK to run in NOARCHIVELOG mode.
Now they want me to load a backup into a different instance so I can generate some reports using old data. (OK, using historic data sounds better but it's the same thing.)
I created the instance & made sure it ran OK, then I restored the data files, control files, and redo logs to the new location. When I tried to reopen the database it complained that the name didn't match.
I changed the name using CREATE CONTROLFILES & now it says that the System datafile needs recovery-but when I try that it asks for an archive log which, of course, isn't available.
No activity occurs in the database for about 6 hours prior to the backup so I'm sure that the data doesn't need recovery-it's just the checkpoints.
Any suggestions?