Abstract: A primary computer system has a database, application programs that modify the local database, and a transaction manager that stores audit records in a local audit trail reflecting those application program modifications to the local database. A plurality of parallel backup systems are used to provide "triple contingency protection" of the data on the primary computer system. However, if the primary system suffers a sudden catastrophic failure, the parallel backup systems will generally be left in inconsistent states. To restart the application programs on one of the backup system, the parallel backup are first synchronized with each other, and then transaction processing is restarted with one of the backup systems as the new primary system, and the other backup systems as the backups to the new primary system.