Jeremy,
It sounds like you're not encountering this as a possible problem, since
you're logged out during backup, and that's good.
But I just want to be clear to anyone else reading the list (lurkers et
al) that your statement of "I don't think PowerMail or other well-written
applications behave like this" simply isn't true. Very well-written
database engines keep files open, and yes, a crash or cut to power can
leave those files unusable. But I'd like to stress for the technical out
there (and there seem to be plenty on this list) that that's not an
indication that the app is flawed; it's simply the nature of databases.
In any case, the best practice here of quitting PM before it's backed up,
as indicated by PM engineering, seems clear.
Steve
On 8/26/05 at 10:33 AM, Jeremy Hughes ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) said:
>>That's not the issue: the issue is that you're backing up an open file.
>>Database engines do housekeeping before the close a file. When Retrospect
>>restores it, all of the dirty flags and cleanup routines that are done
>>when the database engine closes a database won't have been done, things
>>internally are out of place for a file that's expected to be closed, and
>>the file may be unusable... even if Retrospect restores exactly what it
>>was given.
>
>If the file is unusable, this will also be the case whenever there is a
>crash or power cut etc. I don't think PowerMail or other well-written
>applications behave like this.
>
>Anyway, it's not a problem for me. I normally log out before the backup
>runs. On the few occasions when I don't, I've noticed that PowerMail runs
>slowly until I restart it.
Steve Abrahamson
Ascending Technologies
FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
http://www.asctech.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
