You create new databases and access existing ones by specifying attributes to the Derby connection URL.
There is no drop database command. To drop a database, delete the database directory with operating system commands. The database must not be booted when you remove a database. You can get a list of booted databases with getPropertyInfo.
To back up a database, you can use the online backup utility. For information on this utility, see the Java DB Server and Administration Guide.
You can also use roll-forward recovery to recover a damaged database. Derby accomplishes roll-forward recovery by using a full backup copy of the database, archived logs, and active logs from the most recent time before a failure. For more information on roll-forward recovery see the Java DB Server and Administration Guide.