Ravi - I am getting both of these types of messages: skipping archived log file H:\ORACLE\ORADATA\SALES2\ARCHIVE\ARC23830_0686767139.001; already backed up 2 time(s) input archived log thread=1 sequence=23831 RECID=23774 STAMP=722817180 Tony - Thank you for the sympathies! Yes, the backups succeed. No errors in the alert log or event viewer. Interesting thought regarding the virus checker, etc. But I can force rman to delete the files - just not with "delete noprompt obsolete". I think you folks have helped me to rule out that it isn't anything obvious. I'll post the solution, when I get one from Oracle Support. Thank you, Jay On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 10:50 PM, De DBA <dedba@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Jay, > > It only now registers to me that you are on Windows (sympathies...). Did > you consider non-oracle factors, such as a brain-dead virus checker or a > group policy, or even inherited file system permissions? > > Some of my clients have a corporate policy that require every windows > server to run an on-access scanner and the particular brand that they use > will block "suspicious" activity, such as manipulating the registry or > deleting "protected" files. There may be meaningful messages either in the > scanner's log files or the Windows Event log. > > Just a thought.. > > Cheers, > Tony >