Migrating data from a newer geodatabase release to an older one

Sometimes you need to make data available for use by older release ArcGIS clients that cannot connect to the geodatabase release in which your data is stored. To see which ArcGIS client and geodatabase releases are compatible, see Client and geodatabase compatibility.

In these cases, you can use the Create File GDB or Create Personal GDB geoprocessing tools to create an older release geodatabase and move data to it for the older clients to use.

Be aware that functionality implemented in newer releases cannot be migrated to older release geodatabases. If the functionality did not exist at the release you are trying to move to, migration will either fail or the new functionality will be dropped from the dataset.

The following are examples of functionality that cannot be migrated to an older release geodatabase:

• Network datasets that support historic traffic data or defined connectivity using z-coordinate values cannot be moved to a 9.3.x or lower release geodatabase.
• Terrains built with window size pyramids cannot be moved to a 9.2 or lower release geodatabase.
• Terrains built with anchor points cannot be moved to 9.3.x or lower release geodatabases.
• Topologies that use rules not present in the target geodatabase release cannot be pasted into that geodatabase. For example, six new rules were introduced at ArcGIS 10 (Polygon: Contains One Point, Line: Must Not Intersect With, Line: Must Not Intersect or Touch Interior With, Line: Must Be Inside, Point: Must Be Coincident With, and Point: Must Be Disjoint). If any of these rules are defined in the topology, the feature dataset the topology is in cannot be moved to a 9.3.x or lower release geodatabase.
• Mosaic datasets cannot be migrated to a 9.3.x or lower release geodatabase.

Creating an older release geodatabase

If you need to share data with ArcGIS 9.2, 9.3.x, or 10 clients, you can use either the Create File GDB or Create Personal GDB tool to create a geodatabase, then move the data to be shared into the older release geodatabase.

Create the older release geodatabase.

Steps:

1. Open the Create File GDB or Create Personal GDB tool in ArcGIS Desktop.

   These tools can be found in the Workspace toolset of the Data Management toolbox.

2. Specify a location on disk where the geodatabase will be created.
3. Type a name for the geodatabase.
4. Choose the geodatabase release you want to create from the File GDB Version or Personal GDB Version drop-down list.

Moving data

Now you can move data from your newer release geodatabase to the older release geodatabase you just created.

Most datasets can be copied from your newer release geodatabase and pasted into the older release geodatabase, but there are other tools you can use as well. See An overview of adding datasets to the geodatabase for methods of moving data into geodatabases.