Data Loading

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What Does Data Loading Mean?

Data loading is the process of copying and loading data or data sets from a source file, folder or application to a database or similar application. It is usually implemented by copying digital data from a source and pasting or loading the data to a data storage or processing utility.

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Techopedia Explains Data Loading

Data loading is used in database-based extraction and loading techniques. Typically, such data is loaded into the destination application as a different format than the original source location.

For example, when data is copied from a word processing file to a database application, the data format is changed from .doc or .txt to a .CSV or DAT format. Usually, this process is performed through or the last phase of the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) process. The data is extracted from an external source and transformed into the destination application’s supported format, where the data is further loaded.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.