Software and Data Property File geodatabase size Table or feature class size Number of feature classes and tables Number of fields in a table or feature class Number of rows in a table or feature class Geodatabase name length Table or feature class name length Field name length Character field width File geodatabase parameters Action in ArcCatalog Copying stand-alone feature classes or feature datasets Settings Technically no limit 1 TB (default) 256 TB (with keyword) 2,147,483,647 65,534 4,294,967,295 Operating system limits for a folder name 160 characters 64 characters 2,147,483,647 In most cases, the DEFAULTS keyword is used. Use the keywords shown in the accompanying table if the dataset exceeds 1 TB or is less than 4 GB. If no configuration keyword is specified, the DEFAULTS keyword is used. 8 Allows updates to spatial index settings Method Use ArcCatalog's Copy and Paste commands. Use the Export > XML Workspace Document command to export the entire database to an XML file. Create a new, empty file geodatabase. Import > XML Workspace Document to import the data and schema from the XML file into a new file geodatabase. Automatically convert with Copy/Paste and Export to XML Workspace Document. Copy referenced feature class using Copy/Paste. Use the Export > XML Workspace Document command to export the entire database to an XML file. Import > XML Workspace Document choose domain to import from the XML file. Use Export > To Geodatabase or Import > To Geodatabase command. Spatial indexes are used by ArcGIS to quickly locate features when you display, edit, or query data. An appropriate spatial index is important, especially when you are working with large datasets. While the spatial index of a personal geodatabase feature class uses a single grid size that cannot be modified, the spatial index of a file geodatabase feature class uses as many as three grid sizes, which can be modified. Additional grids allow feature classes with features of very different sizes to be queried more quickly. ArcGIS automatically rebuilds the spatial index at the end of some update operations to ensure the index and its grid sizes are optimal. However, in some rare cases, you may need to manually recalculate the index. Copying entire geodatabase Converting from low- to high-precision data Migrating domains Migrating unreferenced domains 9 Allows the use of data compression Incorporating shapefiles, coverages, and CAD data Vector data can be stored in a file geodatabase in a compressed, read-only format that reduces storage requirements. Compression reduces the geodatabase's overall footprint on disk without reducing the performance. Once compressed, display and query performance are comparable to uncompressed data. Compressed data is in a direct-access format, so there is no need to uncompress the data because ArcGIS and ArcReader can read it directly. Continued on page 14 Methods for moving data from a personal to a file geodatabase www.esri.com ArcUser Spring 2009 13