IEHMOVE (Move System Data) Program

IEHMOVE is a system utility used to move or copy logical collections of operating system data.

The information given on IEHMOVE is provided for the sake of compatibility only. DFSMSdss should be used instead of IEHMOVE to move or copy data to volumes managed by the Storage Management Subsystem. DFSMSdss or IEBCOPY should be used to process PDSEs. You cannot use IEHMOVE with PDSEs, ISAM or VSAM data sets, or large format sequential data sets.

If you do use IEHMOVE to move or copy data sets to SMS-managed volumes, you must preallocate all the target data sets. If the data set you are copying or moving is cataloged, and you are moving or copying it to an SMS-managed volume, you must rename the data set.

IEHMOVE can be used to move or copy:

A sequential, partitioned or BDAM data set residing on one to five volumes.
A group of non-VSAM data sets cataloged in an integrated catalog facility catalog.
A volume of data sets.
BDAM data sets with variable-spanned records.

A move operation differs from a copy operation in that a move operation scratches source data if the data set resides on a direct access volume and the expiration date has occurred, while a copy operation leaves source data intact. In addition, for cataloged data sets, a move operation updates the catalog to refer to the moved version (unless otherwise specified), while a copy operation leaves the catalog unchanged.

The scope of a basic move or copy operation can be enlarged by:

Including or excluding data sets from a move or copy operation
Merging members from two or more partitioned data sets
Including or excluding selected members
Renaming moved or copied members
Replacing selected members

When moving or copying a data set group or a volume containing password-protected data sets, you must provide the password each time a data set is opened or scratched.

IEHMOVE always moves or copies any user labels associated with an input data set. You cannot use your own label processing routine with IEHMOVE.

A move or copy operation results in: a moved or copied data set; no action; or an unloaded version of the source data set.

Note: If IEHMOVE is unable to successfully move or copy specified data, it tries to reorganize the data and place it on the specified output device. The reorganized data (called an unloaded data set) is a sequential data set consisting of 80-byte blocked records that contain the source data and control information for subsequently reconstructing the source data as it originally existed. These results depend upon the compatibility of the source and receiving volumes with respect to:

Size of the volumes
Allocation of space on the receiving volume
Data set organization (sequential, partitioned, or BDAM)
Movability of the source data set

Related reading:

For more information about allocating SMS-managed data sets, see z/OS DFSMS Using Data Sets.
For information on the ALLOCATE command, see z/OS DFSMS Access Method Services Commands.