Oracle7 Server Utilities

PART I . Export/Import

Part I describes the Export and Import utilities. These utilities are complementary. Export writes data from an Oracle database into a transportable operating system file. Import reads data from this file back into an Oracle database.

Export and Import are used primarily for the following tasks:

data archival

upgrading to new releases of Oracle

backing up Oracle databases

moving data between Oracle databases

Export and Import allow you to accomplish the following tasks:

store Oracle data in operating system files independent of any database

store definitions of database objects (such as tables, clusters, and indexes) with or without the data

store inactive or temporary data

back up only tables whose data has changed since the last export, using either an incremental or a cumulative export

restore tables that were accidentally dropped, provided they were exported recently

restore a database by importing from incremental or cumulative exports

selectively back up parts of your database in a way that requires less storage space than a system backup

move data from an older to a newer version of Oracle or vice versa

move data between Oracle databases

move data between different hardware and operating-system environments

move data from one owner to another

move data from one tablespace or schema to another

save space or reduce fragmentation in your database