Re: oracle recovery from hp to windows

Hi poldek, thanks for writing this:
> Hi,
> I have Oracle full backup from HP.
> And I have only Windows version of the Oracle.
> Is possible to recover this db on Windows environment?
> Is phisical structure of Oracle datafiles the same on the diffirent
> Operational Systems?
> I know that I have modify init.ora but I doubt that it'd be enough.
> Thanks
> Jarek
>

Is it possible? Sure, if you have the right tools and enough time and dedication.

You have to treat Oracle datafiles like the binary files they are. You have to worry about things like 'endians' ... where bytes are stored in a different order on different hardware platforms. I doubt that HP (I assume you're not talking about an HP PC) stores bytes in the same order as Windows.

To transfer the data, you need to get the data into a form that is "compatible" on both systems. Usually that means an export file that can be FTP'd (in binary mode) to your Windows box and imported ... or a comma-delimited text file that can be copied to your Windows box and loaded via sqlloader.

Of course, if your "full backup" is in one of the latter forms (export or CSV), then what you want is very possible. If all you have is an O/S backup of the datafiles, however, then you'll need another HP or similar box to work with to create a "compatible" backup.

-- 
[:%s/Karsten Farrell/Oracle DBA/g]