How can i restore a Hot backup?

All you need to do is turn on the ARCHIVELOG MODE.

in the init.ora file you need to have these lines:

LOG_ARCHIVE_START=true
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST=</path/to/archivefiles>
LOG_ARCHIVE_FORMAT= %s_%t.arc


Then save your init.ora file and

STARTUP your database in the mount mode.
SQL> STARTUP MOUNT EXCLUSIVE

SQL>ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG;

SQL> shutdown immediate;

do a possible full database backup.
then restart the database
SQL>STARTUP

then your database will start in archivlog mode from now on.

From there,  anytime you want to do a hot backup you can issue.

SQL>alter tablespace <ts_name> begin backup;
SQL>host  cp <datafile_path> <a new location>
SQL>alter tablespace <ts_name> end backup;

that's all. it's advisable to do the hotbackup one tablespace after another.

"however i have not been able to restore the Hot Backups i took."

What kind of restore are you trying to do? Full database restore or point it time? Your cold backup would have restored it to when it was backed up, any changes after would have been lost. Hot backup would cover all changes made after backup (provided you haven't lost the archive logs & unarchived redo logs).

Follow seazodiac's advice on procedure.

I know how to take a hot backup, i am trying to restore it now, can you give me some information on that?

Thanks for your help. I am using oracle 8i.
I'll try this now.

No problem. Let us know if you're still having problems.

K