The inctype has not worked for at least 2 major version, here is a thread I posted to oracle-l back in '04': Read from the bottom up. joe Incremental Export in Oracle 9i 2004-06-04 - By jtesta@(protected) Back Reply: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 My guess would be so that all of those exp scripts out there floating around don't bomb off with "invalid parameter" error but just ignore it and keep on running. No need to apologize, i rarely post except usually to be a smart ass but when i do post, i've already gone thru the procedure of proving the point so i dont look like a doofus posting errors :) joe Original message below Joe, Thank you. It's always nice to see someone take the time to prove what they say. My apologies for missing this on the list earlier. It's curious...why would Oracle keep the parameter in exp and then tell you it is obsolete and it will be ignored? I'm sure they have a good reason, it just does not make much sense to this ol' dba... Daniel jtesta@(protected) wrote: Dan, I made the statement as its been stated in the 9i docs and to make you feel better here is your proof: [oracle@(protected) tmp]$ exp jtesta full=y inctype=cumulative Export: Release 9.2.0.5.0 - Production on Fri Jun 4 12:30:54 2004 Copyright (c) 1982, 2002, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Password: Connected to: Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.5.0 - Production With the Partitioning, OLAP and Oracle Data Mining options JServer Release 9.2.0.5.0 - Production EXP-00041 (See http://EXP-00041.ora-code.com): INCTYPE parameter is obsolete 00041, 00000, "INCTYPE parameter is obsolete" // *Cause: Export encountered the INCTYPE parameter when parsing Export // options. Incremental Exports are no longer supported. // *Action: Consult the Oracle Backup and Recovery guide. // Export will attempt to continue. [oracle@(protected) tmp]$ Joe _______________________________________ Joe Testa, Oracle Certified Professional Senior Consultant Nationwide Investments Data Engineering and Administration (Work) 614-677-1668 614-312-6715 From: Lyndon Tiu <ltiu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: 10/28/2008 09:44 AM Subject: EXP-00041: INCTYPE parameter is obsolete Sent by: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Hi guys, Just making sure I am reading this correctly. Export: Release 9.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Oct 28 08:37:20 2008 EXP-00041: INCTYPE parameter is obsolete So exp no longer has INCTYPE available? Is there an alternative I could use? I need to backup incrementally without having to backup everything everytime. I am not DBA, I am a power user. I have no access to RMAN and exp is the only way I can do backups. Any suggestions and tips greatly appreciated. Thanks. -- Lyndon Tiu -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l