diff --git a/core/src/err/mod.rs b/core/src/err/mod.rs
index 5d28fdf5..74a581d2 100644
--- a/core/src/err/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/err/mod.rs
@@ -1093,6 +1093,14 @@ pub enum Error {
 	RangeTooBig {
 		max: usize,
 	},
+
+	/// There was an invalid storage version stored in the database
+	#[error("There was an invalid storage version stored in the database")]
+	InvalidStorageVersion,
+
+	/// There was an outdated storage version stored in the database
+	#[error("The data stored on disk is out-of-date with this version. Please follow the upgrade guides in the documentation")]
+	OutdatedStorageVersion,
 }
 
 impl From<Error> for String {
diff --git a/core/src/key/category.rs b/core/src/key/category.rs
index 2c34442d..39616605 100644
--- a/core/src/key/category.rs
+++ b/core/src/key/category.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ pub(crate) trait Categorise {
 #[non_exhaustive]
 #[allow(unused)]
 pub enum Category {
+	/// crate::key::storage::version         /sv
+	Version,
 	/// crate::key::root::all                /
 	Root,
 	/// crate::key::root::access::ac         /!ac{ac}
@@ -154,6 +156,7 @@ pub enum Category {
 impl Display for Category {
 	fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
 		let name = match self {
+			Self::Version => "StorageVersion",
 			Self::Root => "Root",
 			Self::Access => "Access",
 			Self::AccessRoot => "AccessRoot",
diff --git a/core/src/key/mod.rs b/core/src/key/mod.rs
index e0322090..8feec5da 100644
--- a/core/src/key/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/key/mod.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 //! How the keys are structured in the key value store
 ///
+/// crate::key::version                  !v
+///
 /// crate::key::root::all                /
 /// crate::key::root::access::all        /*{ac}
 /// crate::key::root::access::ac         /!ac{ac}
@@ -74,3 +76,4 @@ pub(crate) mod node;
 pub(crate) mod root;
 pub(crate) mod table;
 pub(crate) mod thing;
+pub(crate) mod version;
diff --git a/core/src/key/version/mod.rs b/core/src/key/version/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..30690ab0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/key/version/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+//! Stores a record document
+use crate::key::category::Categorise;
+use crate::key::category::Category;
+use derive::Key;
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use std::ops::Range;
+
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, Eq, PartialEq, PartialOrd, Serialize, Deserialize, Key)]
+#[non_exhaustive]
+pub struct Version {
+	__: u8,
+	_a: u8,
+}
+
+pub fn new() -> Version {
+	Version::new()
+}
+
+pub fn proceeding() -> Range<Vec<u8>> {
+	vec![b'!', b'v', 0x00]..vec![0xff]
+}
+
+impl Categorise for Version {
+	fn categorise(&self) -> Category {
+		Category::Version
+	}
+}
+
+impl Version {
+	pub fn new() -> Self {
+		Self {
+			__: b'!',
+			_a: b'v',
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+impl Default for Version {
+	fn default() -> Self {
+		Self::new()
+	}
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+	#[test]
+	fn key() {
+		use super::*;
+		#[rustfmt::skip]
+		let val = Version::new();
+		let enc = Version::encode(&val).unwrap();
+		assert_eq!(enc, b"!v");
+
+		let dec = Version::decode(&enc).unwrap();
+		assert_eq!(val, dec);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/core/src/kvs/ds.rs b/core/src/kvs/ds.rs
index ba0101c1..ab225eda 100644
--- a/core/src/kvs/ds.rs
+++ b/core/src/kvs/ds.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use super::tr::Transactor;
 use super::tx::Transaction;
+use super::version::Version;
 use crate::cf;
 use crate::ctx::MutableContext;
 #[cfg(feature = "jwks")]
@@ -508,13 +509,59 @@ impl Datastore {
 
 	// Initialise the cluster and run bootstrap utilities
 	#[instrument(err, level = "trace", target = "surrealdb::core::kvs::ds", skip_all)]
-	pub async fn bootstrap(&self) -> Result<(), Error> {
-		// Insert this node in the cluster
-		self.insert_node(self.id).await?;
-		// Mark expired nodes as archived
-		self.expire_nodes().await?;
+	pub async fn check_version(&self) -> Result<Version, Error> {
+		// Start a new writeable transaction
+		let txn = self.transaction(Write, Pessimistic).await?.enclose();
+		// Create the key where the version is stored
+		let key = crate::key::version::new();
+		// Check if a version is already set in storage
+		let val = match catch!(txn, txn.get(key.clone(), None)) {
+			// There is a version set in the storage
+			Some(v) => {
+				// Attempt to decode the current stored version
+				let val = TryInto::<Version>::try_into(v);
+				// Check for errors, and cancel the transaction
+				match val {
+					// There was en error getting the version
+					Err(err) => {
+						// We didn't write anything, so just rollback
+						txn.cancel().await?;
+						// Return the error
+						return Err(err);
+					}
+					// We could decode the version correctly
+					Ok(val) => val,
+				}
+			}
+			// There is no version set in the storage
+			None => {
+				// Fetch any keys immediately following the version key
+				let rng = crate::key::version::proceeding();
+				let keys = catch!(txn, txn.keys(rng, 1));
+				// Check the storage if there are any other keys set
+				let val = if keys.is_empty() {
+					// There are no keys set in storage, so this is a new database
+					Version::latest()
+				} else {
+					// There were keys in storage, so this is an upgrade
+					Version::v1()
+				};
+				// Convert the version to binary
+				let bytes: Vec<u8> = val.into();
+				// Attempt to set the current version in storage
+				catch!(txn, txn.set(key, bytes));
+				// We set the version, so commit the transaction
+				catch!(txn, txn.commit());
+				// Return the current version
+				val
+			}
+		};
+		// Check we are running the latest version
+		if !val.is_latest() {
+			return Err(Error::OutdatedStorageVersion);
+		}
 		// Everything ok
-		Ok(())
+		Ok(val)
 	}
 
 	/// Setup the initial cluster access credentials
@@ -546,6 +593,17 @@ impl Datastore {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Initialise the cluster and run bootstrap utilities
+	#[instrument(err, level = "trace", target = "surrealdb::core::kvs::ds", skip_all)]
+	pub async fn bootstrap(&self) -> Result<(), Error> {
+		// Insert this node in the cluster
+		self.insert_node(self.id).await?;
+		// Mark expired nodes as archived
+		self.expire_nodes().await?;
+		// Everything ok
+		Ok(())
+	}
+
 	// tick is called periodically to perform maintenance tasks.
 	// This is called every TICK_INTERVAL.
 	#[instrument(err, level = "trace", target = "surrealdb::core::kvs::ds", skip(self))]
diff --git a/core/src/kvs/mod.rs b/core/src/kvs/mod.rs
index 81f90351..10d11a4e 100644
--- a/core/src/kvs/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/kvs/mod.rs
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ mod scanner;
 mod stash;
 mod tr;
 mod tx;
+mod version;
 
 mod fdb;
 mod indxdb;
diff --git a/core/src/kvs/version.rs b/core/src/kvs/version.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d4982be2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/kvs/version.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+use crate::err::Error;
+
+#[derive(Copy, Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct Version(u16);
+
+impl From<u16> for Version {
+	fn from(version: u16) -> Self {
+		Version(version)
+	}
+}
+
+impl From<Option<u16>> for Version {
+	fn from(v: Option<u16>) -> Self {
+		v.unwrap_or(0).into()
+	}
+}
+
+impl From<Version> for u16 {
+	fn from(v: Version) -> Self {
+		v.0
+	}
+}
+
+impl From<Version> for Vec<u8> {
+	fn from(v: Version) -> Self {
+		v.0.to_be_bytes().to_vec()
+	}
+}
+
+impl TryFrom<Vec<u8>> for Version {
+	type Error = Error;
+	fn try_from(v: Vec<u8>) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
+		let bin = v.try_into().map_err(|_| Error::InvalidStorageVersion)?;
+		let val = u16::from_be_bytes(bin).into();
+		Ok(val)
+	}
+}
+
+impl Version {
+	/// The latest version
+	pub const LATEST: u16 = 2;
+	/// The latest version
+	pub fn latest() -> Self {
+		Self(2)
+	}
+	/// SurrealDB version 1
+	pub fn v1() -> Self {
+		Self(1)
+	}
+	/// SurrealDB version 2
+	pub fn v2() -> Self {
+		Self(2)
+	}
+	/// Check if we are running the latest version
+	pub fn is_latest(&self) -> bool {
+		self.0 == Self::LATEST
+	}
+}
diff --git a/sdk/src/api/conn/cmd.rs b/sdk/src/api/conn/cmd.rs
index 045d07ba..ec55ae63 100644
--- a/sdk/src/api/conn/cmd.rs
+++ b/sdk/src/api/conn/cmd.rs
@@ -199,9 +199,9 @@ impl Command {
 			} => {
 				let table = match what {
 					Some(w) => {
-						let mut tmp = CoreTable::default();
-						tmp.0 = w.clone();
-						CoreValue::from(tmp)
+						let mut table = CoreTable::default();
+						table.0.clone_from(&w);
+						CoreValue::from(table)
 					}
 					None => CoreValue::None,
 				};
diff --git a/sdk/src/api/method/live.rs b/sdk/src/api/method/live.rs
index 032710ce..f55316d5 100644
--- a/sdk/src/api/method/live.rs
+++ b/sdk/src/api/method/live.rs
@@ -62,10 +62,10 @@ where
 			}
 			Resource::RecordId(record) => {
 				let record = record.into_inner();
-				table.0 = record.tb.clone();
+				table.0.clone_from(&record.tb);
 				stmt.what = table.into();
 				let mut ident = Ident::default();
-				ident.0 = ID.to_owned();
+				ID.clone_into(&mut ident.0);
 				let mut idiom = Idiom::default();
 				idiom.0 = vec![Part::from(ident)];
 				let mut cond = Cond::default();
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ where
 			Resource::Edge(_) => return Err(Error::LiveOnEdges.into()),
 			Resource::Range(range) => {
 				let range = range.into_inner();
-				table.0 = range.tb.clone();
+				table.0.clone_from(&range.tb);
 				stmt.what = table.into();
 				stmt.cond = range.to_cond();
 			}
diff --git a/sdk/tests/helpers.rs b/sdk/tests/helpers.rs
index 7cc96772..2534078e 100644
--- a/sdk/tests/helpers.rs
+++ b/sdk/tests/helpers.rs
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ impl Test {
 		})
 	}
 
+	#[allow(dead_code)]
 	pub async fn new(sql: &str) -> Result<Self, Error> {
 		Self::with_ds(new_ds().await?, sql).await
 	}
@@ -261,6 +262,7 @@ impl Test {
 	/// Simulates restarting the Datastore
 	/// - Data are persistent (including memory store)
 	/// - Flushing caches (jwks, IndexStore, ...)
+	#[allow(dead_code)]
 	pub async fn restart(self, sql: &str) -> Result<Self, Error> {
 		Self::with_ds(self.ds.restart(), sql).await
 	}
diff --git a/src/dbs/mod.rs b/src/dbs/mod.rs
index cc36f77a..10bb69c6 100644
--- a/src/dbs/mod.rs
+++ b/src/dbs/mod.rs
@@ -239,6 +239,8 @@ pub async fn init(
 		.with_auth_enabled(!unauthenticated)
 		.with_temporary_directory(temporary_directory)
 		.with_capabilities(capabilities);
+	// Ensure the storage version is up-to-date to prevent corruption
+	dbs.check_version().await?;
 	// Setup initial server auth credentials
 	if let (Some(user), Some(pass)) = (opt.user.as_ref(), opt.pass.as_ref()) {
 		dbs.initialise_credentials(user, pass).await?;