The original location is the location of the file on the active file system at the time of the backup. The alternate location is the location from which a file will be restored.

You can restore from an alternate location to restore the data files from an intermediate file system to an active file system.

Recovery is automated by SnapManager. When recovering files from external locations, SnapManager uses the recovery automatic from location command.

SnapManager also uses Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) to recover files. The files to be recovered should be recognizable by Oracle. The file names should be in the default format. When recovering from flash recovery area, SnapManager provides the translated path to Oracle. Oracle though, does not recover from the flash recovery area because it cannot generate the correct file name. Ideally, flash recovery area is a destination that is intended to work with RMAN.