Compare databases on different SQL Server versions

Last modified: August 8, 2024

Please note, that you may have problems with some data types when comparing databases on different SQL Server versions.

CLR data types

You can update CLR data in a SQL Server 2005 or later database with values from a text or string data type in a SQL Server 2000 database. Please, make sure that the Compare CLR types as binary option is not selected on the Options tab of the New Data Comparison Wizard.

The collation for string data matters for dbForge Data Compare. In case the collation is not the same, differences will be reported.

Note

If you are comparing backup files, Data Compare for SQL Server can compare CLR data types only as binary values.

XML data types

It is possible to update XML data in a SQL Server 2005 or later database with values from a text or string data type in a SQL Server 2000 database. White spaces will be saved in most cases. The Data Compare for SQL Server tool supports DTD (Document Type Definition). This is with the exception of default attributes and entities.

Please remember, that XML encoding and DTD data cannot be stored in the SQL Server 2005 or later. So, if you convert data from a string to an XML, and then back to a string, this data will be lost.

The collation for string data matters for dbForge Data Compare. In case the collation is not the same, differences will be reported.

Note

XML columns cannot be used as comparison keys.