A system and method of backing up an online database to a storage device is provided wherein the online database is actively changed by one or more applications. The backed up online database is then subsequently restored. The online database is backed up by copying the online database to the storage device, and during the copying of the online database, writing changes that are made to the online database to a change log for the portion of the online database that has already been copied to the storage device, and not writing changes that are made to the online database to the change log for the portion of the online database that has not yet been copied to the storage device. The online database is then restored by loading the backed up online database to a restore database, and applying the changes in the change log to the restore database.