Page History

...

The databases you wish to compare (or tables within them) can be virtually anywhere – as long as you have access to them you can compare and synchronize them. Furthermore, the databases do not have to be of the same version or flavor – you can compare between any “flavors” of the SQL Server: Express, Developer, Standard, Enterprise.

In the case of cross version comparison IDERA SQL Data Compare will map the data types that can be mapped and ignore the columns that are of a type that cannot be mapped (let's say a data type that only exists in SQL Server 2012 but does not exist in 2005 and there is no equivalent type to which it can be mapped).