Backup

[amolik]

Hello Everybody

Currently I have 3 destinations supplied for backup in init.ora file in my Windows NT Oracle Machine. When I explore thru the files I found that the sizes of files are very much different.

Currently I am just running a trial database where very few data entry activity is going on and my archivemode and automatic archival are properly set. In my all three destinations the files having same names are of same size. But the size of Arc00304.001 is much much less than Arc00306.001 which is created next day only while file Arc00305.001 is less than first which was also on next day only. Files created on next few days by the system are also varying in the size.

Can Anyone please explain what is the status there in these archive files ? Are these files are backup of only control files ? DO these Files I have to keep or old files has to be deleted?
Does these file backs up only data currently entered in the day or the old data as well in the tables ?

Which of these files will be required to store on the outside disks in case of disk or system crash?
There are also 2 winzip files with .ARC extensions created for last two days Do I need to back them up as well ?
What does these winzip file contain ?
Do I have to run the tablespace backup every day or any specific interval for datafiles ?
Thanks in Advance
Amol

[pwoneill]

I'm sure any number of us can give a long explaination about the archived files and what you should do with them, but first check out [url]http://technet.oracle.com/doc/oracle8i_816/server.816/a76993/toc.htm[/url] so you can get a better understanding about what the files actually are and what their purpose is.

They are the archived redo log files, the gist is that they are used for complete recovery up until the point of failure, and you need to keep all those which are applicable to your database (basically those newer than your last backup)