In one general aspect, a computer-implemented method for migrating data from a source database to a target database includes a computer-implemented method that includes executing, using at least one processor, instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The method includes ensuring that the source database has correct version information, creating an image copy of the data in the source database, and collecting metadata describing the source database. The metadata may include information used to verify that the target database is compatible with the source database, to automatically translate object identifiers, and to avert the migration if no data has changed in the source and the target databases (e.g., table and index spaces) since a previous migration. The method may further include refreshing the data in the target database using the image copy after determining that the source database and the target database are compatible.