is shutdown immediate adequate for consistent cold backup?

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I had an assumption displaced today. Not a big one, but I might be making some changes tomorrow.
(tonight I was under the hood of the development server, upping
db_block_lru_latches =2, and db_writer_processes = 2), etc.

Some time ago - I had read in some Oracle doc somewhere, that a shutdown immediate was sufficient before performing a cold backup. I used to do a
(stop listener) shutdown immediate, startup (restrict if I felt evil) and
shutdown normal. When I re-wrote for 8.1.6 - I just used shutdown immediate.

I've had databases recovered (successfully) off of the shutdown immediate method.
Is it just that there is an outside chance that shutdown immediate prior to backup could leave some type of garbage behind?

Please note that the words 'shutdown abort' were not used in this little firestarter before replying. Received on Tue Dec 05 2000 - 21:49:37 CST