Arslan - I can't think that a full db export has any particular advantages over the user level export. In theory you have copies of system objects, but you probably would never want to re-import these. The results could be pretty bad. And if you lose a system table, you are probably close to doing a recovery from backup anyway. I feel that the most important value of an export is having a recent copy of a table when you need it, in case the table gets dropped or otherwise corrupted. For me, the decision has always been one of convenience. If the amount of data is small, then do a full export. However, if this creates unwieldy files, then break the export up to create multiple files. The most important thing is to have the export available when you need it. As to your issue of moving a copy of your production database to test, I didn't understand what you mean by "takes a lot of time and hectic effort", and how that relates to your question of system-level vs. user-level exports. I would think that 10 user-level exports would give you more flexibility in terms of importing. For example, you could run several imports simultaneously, depending on the capability of your test system. If the problem is that your database is getting so large that imports are becoming unwieldy, then you should consider using a cloning technique to create your test system. Basically you can take your most recent backup and restore it on your test system. For more information, go to http://www.orafaq.com <http://www.orafaq.com> and search for "clone". This has the additional benefit of verifying your production backup. Hope this helps. Dennis Williams DBA Lifetouch, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message----- Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 9:15 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L hi list, i wonder wat actually full db export has benefits over user level export, cuz full db export also makes the objects of user sys and system as part of the dump file (if i am right) , but the target database in which we are gonna import that dump file also have objects of system and sys already created then wats the point in exporting their objects too. for example we have two databases, 1 production and other dev, we have almost 10 user schemas which we replicate from production db to development db using export/import. We use to drop all the existing objects of the schemas in dev database using scripts, and then import the dump file (which ofcourse contains only the 10 user schemas which we want to update on the dev db), but it takes a lot of time and hectic effort, can anybody suggest a better method of doing same thing using export/import , and where does full db export/import fits in our situation. thanks in advance Arslan Zaheer Dar Oracle Dba Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: DENNIS WILLIAMS INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).