Abstract: A system and method for backing up data on computer-readable physical medium, especially useful for databases, such as those using POSIX standard function calls, whereby select operations performed by a user of the database are intercepted and, while performed, are also translated into a shadow file having information about a database file to be backed up and the operations performed on that file. The resulting shadow file can be used to reconstitute the database file. In another mode of operation, the system and method create a copy of the database and concurrently make the same changes to the copy as the user commands while also concurrently keeping a shadow file system related to the database copy.