Making Logical Backups with Oracle Export Utilities

Oracle import and export utilities move Oracle data in and out of Oracle databases. Export utilities write exported database objects to operating system files in an Oracle-proprietary format. Import utilities can read the files produced by export utilities and re-create database objects. Logical exports of data can be a useful supplement to physical database backups in some situations, especially in backing up recovery catalog databases.

There are two sets of Oracle database import and export utilities: Original Import and Export (which were used in previous releases) and Data Pump Import and Export (new for Oracle Database Release 10g). The Data Pump utilities offer better performance and more complete support of features of Oracle Database Release 10g. Whichever export tool you use to export objects to a file, you must use the corresponding import tool to import the objects from the file, that is, you cannot use the Data Pump Import utility to read the output of the Original Export utility, or the Original Import to read the output of the Data Pump Export utility.