An approach that allows for replicating data sets that have different attributes. A logical copy operation may not be possible from a source data set to a target data set due to differences between their respective attributes. The source data set may have obsolete attributes that prevent a logical copy to a target data set with supported attributes. The presented solution may involve allocating an intermediate data set with the same attributes as the source data set. The intermediate data set may be allocated with the same obsolete attributes as the source data set. The approach may also involve executing a logical copy operation from the source data set to the intermediate data set. A standard copy operation that reformats the data may be executed on the intermediate data set to the target data set.