Copying Archived Layers from One Server to Another

[MichaelTodd]

I am trying to copy a layer from a server running SDE 10.0 (on SQL Server 2005) to a server running SDE 10.1 (on SQL Server 2012). The layer has versioning and archiving enabled and there does not seem to be a way to copy the archival information.

Is there a way to copy the layer and all archiving information as well?

[MichaelTodd · Accepted solution]

Per ESRI:

"It would not be possible to retrieve the same archival information after exporting the feature class into a new geodatabase."

So, in other words, one cannot copy archival information from one geodatabase to another. It must always live in the same geodatabase. Once you have transferred a layer to a new geodatabase you can set up versioning and then archiving, but you're essentially creating a _new_ archive that starts from the data that you created it.

If you need to retain archival information when moving to a new ArcGIS version and a new server, the recommended course of action is to:

1. Upgrade the geodatabase to the new version
2. Backup the database
3. Restore the database on the new server

That should ensure that everything is retained during the move.