It sounds to me like the used procedure is somehow suboptimal :-)We have two easy ways to create an identical test Database from a live DB:Simple Cloning and Snapshot Standby.Simple Cloning is the RMAN command duplicate target database:http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/backup.112/e10642/rcmdupdb.htm#BRADV010
Snapshot Standby is even more comfortable, because you can do it very fast & easy multiple times subsequently after your live DB did change:http://uhesse.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/snapshot-standby-database-in-action/