Oracle database backup features comparison

Feature	RMAN Backup	User managed backup	Datapump Export
Closed database backups	Supported. Requires instance to be mounted	Supported	Not supported
Open database backups	Supported. No need to use BEGIN/END BACKUP statements	Supported. Must use BEGIN/END BACKUP statements.	Requires rollback or undo segments to generate consistent backups.
Incremental backups	Supported	Not supported	Not supported
Corrupt block detection	Supported. Identifies corrupt blocks and logs in V$DATABASE_BLOCK_ CORRUPTION.	Not supported	Supported. Identifies corrupt blocks in the export log.
Automatic specification of files to include in a backup	Supported. Establishes the name and locations of all files to be backed up (whole database, tablespaces, datafiles, control files, and so on).	Not supported. Files to be backed up must be located and copied manually.	Not applicable.
Backup repository	Supported. Backups are recorded in the control file, which is the main repository of RMAN metadata. Additionally, you can store this metadata in a recovery catalog, which is a schema in a different database.	Not supported. DBA must keep own records of backups.	Not supported.
Backups to a media manager	Supported. Interfaces with a media manager. RMAN also supports proxy copy, a feature that allows a media manager to manage completely the transfer of data between disk and backup media.	Supported. Backup to tape is manual or controlled by a media manager.	Not supported.
Backup of initialization parameter file	Supported	Supported	Not supported
Backup of password and networking files	Not supported	Supported	Not supported
Platform-independent language for backups	Supported	Not supported	Supported