How does backup software deal with open files? How does it back them up? If a DLL file is being used by a program, you cannot copy it because windows locks the file. Is there a method for backing up such files without stopping the program that has locked them?

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Most backup software companies use an open file manager with Windows, such as St. Bernard or Columbia Data Products. These products take a snapshot of the entire drive. This creates a virtual copy of the filesystem that can be backed up without read/write locks. These snapshots use the "copy on write" technology discussed in the book "Unix Backup & Recovery". (This technique is not limited to Unix or NT.)

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This was first published in July 2002

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