Expert: Peter Choi - 11/4/2009

Question
hello sir,
i've got a *.dmp file that i can't open! i've just read your answer to another question similar to this! but unfortunately it couldn't help! since i haven't worked with oracle till now! i've just installed it! and i even don't know how to use it!!
i'll be sooooooo grateful if u can help me step by step to open this file. please note that i don't know anything about oracle...!

Answer
Hi Maryam,

Here's a quick and simple Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) document from OracleFAQ's website.

Question #2 would help you immediately.

An Oracle .DMP file is a binary file (and thus is not in clear text that a human can read and understand). It's usefulness is to port/move data from one oracle database to another, even operating system independent (e.g. moving some or all oracle data from a database on IBM AIX to Oracle on an Oracle database running on Microsoft).

From Oracle 9i and below, the IMPORT and EXPORT commands are your primary tools: EXPORT to extract and create the .DMP file; IMPORT to load an existing .DMP file into your target database.

With Oracle 10gR1, R2 and 11gR1, EXPORT and IMPORT are still supported, but it is recommended that you start using DataPump (EXPDP and IMPDP) in place of EXPORT and IMPORT. It is expected that the EXPORT and IMPORT commands will be deprecated at some point in the future.

Hopefully this helps.