dbexport -> dbimport problem

I am trying to use dbexport -> dbimport to refresh data in my test database. The databases are pretty big, about 3GB so i wanted to use dbimport for speed. The problem i have is that to load the data into the new database I have to drop it. In another words I cannot just copy the data, I have to recreate the schema too. In the informix book it says that you "can" use the schema file, which would imply that you don't have to if you don't want to. Because of our application requirements. I cannot drop and recreate the database. Is there a switch that I am missing ? Or is there another fast way to copy data from one database to another??

If it's speed you want use onunload/onload. With regard to dbimport, if you rename the dbexport directory and the .sql file, then edit the create database statement within the .sql file, you can dbimport your database with a different name. Once that's done, you can use rename database SQL to move the old database out of the way and substitute the new one. Neil Paul Jazwierski wrote in message <36AF6023.2D40570D@earthlink.net>... >I am trying to use dbexport -> dbimport to refresh data in my test >database. The databases are pretty big, about 3GB so i wanted to use >dbimport for speed. The problem i have is that to load the data into the >new database I have to drop it. In another words I cannot just copy the >data, I have to recreate the schema too. In the informix book it says >that you "can" use the schema file, which would imply that you don't >have to if you don't want to. Because of our application requirements. I >cannot drop and recreate the database. Is there a switch that I am >missing ? Or is there another fast way to copy data from one database to >another?? > > >