All, I just need a sanity check . . . . Is there any reason why I can't import data into a table using datapump while the database is in use ? The import is historical data moved from another system which will be accessed infrequently. The table itself receives inserts, but no updates or deletes (except for a daily purge job). Ideally I'd prefer to do it with all the users out of the sytem, but this isn't possible at the moment. The only thing I could think of would be a possible performance hit, but we aren't unduly stressing the system at the moment. thanks in advance, graham ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the answer. Try it now. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/ -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l