How To Back Up, Restore, and Migrate a MongoDB Database

Importing and exporting a database means dealing with data in a human-readable format, compatible with other software products. In contrast, the backup and restore operations create or use MongoDB-specific binary data, which preserves not only the consistency and integrity of your data but also its specific MongoDB attributes. Thus, for migration, it's usually preferable to use backup and restore as long as the source and target systems are compatible.