NOTE: Once enabled; this new 10g feature records the modified since last backup and stores the log of it in a block change tracking file. During backups RMAN uses the log file to identify the specific blocks that must be backed up. This improves RMAN's performance as it does not have to scan whole datafiles to detect changed blocks. Logging of changed blocks is performed by the CTWR process which is also responsible for writing data to the block change tracking file. When using Oracle block change tracking we see this procedure. As data blocks change, the Change Tracking Writer (CTWR) background process tracks the changed blocks in a private area of memory. When a commit is issued against the data block, the block change tracking information is copied to a shared area in Large Pool called the CTWR buffer. During the checkpoint, the CTWR process writes the information from the CTWR RAM buffer to the change-tracking file. After enabling change tracking, the first level ...