I find this very surprising, that one can restore a DB created on an Enterprise server onto a Standard server, even if both are at the exact same version and service pack.

I wondered about the usage of features that are Enterprise only.

I found this in Brent Ozar's 60-Minute Blitz script:

/*

Are any of the databases using features that are Enterprise Edition only?

If a database is using something like partitioning, compression, or

Transparent Data Encryption, then I won't be able to restore it onto a

Standard Edition server.

*/

EXEC dbo.sp_MSforeachdb 'SELECT ''[?]'' AS DatabaseName, * FROM [?].sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features'

I have to go find a copy of the SQL Server 2008 standard edition and test it.