Your database is running in ARCHIVELOG mode. You back up the control file by executing ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROL TO TRACE NORESETLOGS, whenever you make structural changes to the database. A…

Attempting to restore or copy the control file before issuing any STARTUP command is incorrect; the Oracle instance must first be started to NOMOUNT stage before the control file can be recreated or placed into the proper location.

Because no control file exists, the instance can only start to NOMOUNT stage. The ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROLFILE TO TRACE NORESETLOGS command produced a SQL script that recreates the control file using the NORESETLOGS option, meaning the intact online redo logs are preserved and the database can be opened without RESETLOGS. Recreating the control file at the default location is sufficient to allow mounting, recovering, and opening the database in this scenario.

STARTUP MOUNT requires a valid control file to exist before Oracle can mount the database; since all control files are damaged, the instance cannot reach MOUNT stage and must instead be started to NOMOUNT first.

Although recreating the control file from the trace script is technically the right method, this option likely specifies using RESETLOGS in the CREATE CONTROLFILE statement, which is incorrect here because the backup was taken with NORESETLOGS and the online redo logs are intact, making RESETLOGS an unnecessary and data-destructive choice.