Chapter 8: Understanding the Transfer Process

Description of bulk copy, express, and destination-template transfer

The following describes how bulk copy transfer, express transfer, and destination-template transfer process data:

Bulk copy transfer and express transfer allow you to quickly and directly transfer large amounts of compatible data between databases.
Destination-template transfer allows you the flexibility and control to insert the data in a template before sending it to the target database.

The following table further describes the conditions that determine the type of transfer you select.

**Table 8-1: Comparison of two transfer command types**
Use bulk copy and express transfer to:	Use destination-template transfer to:
Execute the transfer quickly	Exercise more control over the transfer
Perform implicit datatype conversions	Move tables of data in which you need to explicitly specify datatype conversion, such as when the data is structurally incompatible
Move entire tables of data in which column types are compatible between the source and destination databases: transfer to secondary_connection; with replace into target_table; select col1, col 2 from source_table	Perform actions other than INSERT against a target database using input from the source database, such as UPDATE, DELETE, and CREATE transfer to secondary_connection; select col2, col3 from source_table; insert into target_table values (?,?)

For detailed information about bulk copy and express transfer, see Chapter 9, “Using Bulk Copy Transfer and Express Transfer.” For detailed information about destination-template transfer, see Chapter 10, “Using Destination-Template Transfer.”