Best Export format for long term compatibility

We have a couple of databases about 5G each and around 300 tables in each
databases.We have to keep a yealry backup for 6 years. Also we might be
converting to Oracle in about 2 years. If we want to store the SQL Server
tables information in a compatible format that would be restorable in a
couple of years, what would be the recommended Export format ?
ThanksDelimited ASCII text is just about the only format that never seems to go
out of style...
Adam Machanic
SQL Server MVP
Author, "Expert SQL Server 2005 Development"
http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10220
"SQL Server newbie" <SQLServernewbie@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:D55CFF19-39E5-4707-B515-079A7F5EAA4B@.microsoft.com...
> We have a couple of databases about 5G each and around 300 tables in each
> databases.We have to keep a yealry backup for 6 years. Also we might be
> converting to Oracle in about 2 years. If we want to store the SQL Server
> tables information in a compatible format that would be restorable in a
> couple of years, what would be the recommended Export format ?
> Thanks|||Adam,
Thanks for the info. But when I choose ASCII Text as an output format it
seems to only pickup one table at a time. Is thre any way to specify all
tables or multiple tables during the Export ?
Thanks
"Adam Machanic" wrote:
> Delimited ASCII text is just about the only format that never seems to go
> out of style...
>
> --
> Adam Machanic
> SQL Server MVP
> Author, "Expert SQL Server 2005 Development"
> http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10220
>
> "SQL Server newbie" <SQLServernewbie@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message news:D55CFF19-39E5-4707-B515-079A7F5EAA4B@.microsoft.com...
> > We have a couple of databases about 5G each and around 300 tables in each
> > databases.We have to keep a yealry backup for 6 years. Also we might be
> > converting to Oracle in about 2 years. If we want to store the SQL Server
> > tables information in a compatible format that would be restorable in a
> > couple of years, what would be the recommended Export format ?
> > Thanks
>|||My suggestion for ASCII text was really more of a joke than anything
else--suggesting the one format you KNOW will still work. But based on what
you posted, I would just stick with a standard SQL Server backup. You can
always re-install a copy of SQL Server and get the data from there, even if
you switch to Oracle.
Adam Machanic
SQL Server MVP
Author, "Expert SQL Server 2005 Development"
http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10220
"SQL Server newbie" <SQLServernewbie@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:1CA39E77-19FB-47EC-8E22-CBE6348A5647@.microsoft.com...
> Adam,
> Thanks for the info. But when I choose ASCII Text as an output format it
> seems to only pickup one table at a time. Is thre any way to specify all
> tables or multiple tables during the Export ?
> Thanks
> "Adam Machanic" wrote:
>> Delimited ASCII text is just about the only format that never seems to go
>> out of style...
>>
>> --
>> Adam Machanic
>> SQL Server MVP
>> Author, "Expert SQL Server 2005 Development"
>> http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10220
>>
>> "SQL Server newbie" <SQLServernewbie@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message news:D55CFF19-39E5-4707-B515-079A7F5EAA4B@.microsoft.com...
>> > We have a couple of databases about 5G each and around 300 tables in
>> > each
>> > databases.We have to keep a yealry backup for 6 years. Also we might be
>> > converting to Oracle in about 2 years. If we want to store the SQL
>> > Server
>> > tables information in a compatible format that would be restorable in a
>> > couple of years, what would be the recommended Export format ?
>> > Thanks