how to copy only the columns in a DataTable to another DataTable?

DataTable.Clone() should do the trick.

DataTable newTable = originalTable.Clone();

If only the columns are required then DataTable.Clone() can be used. With Clone function only the schema will be copied. But DataTable.Copy() copies both the structure and data

E.g.

DataTable dt = new DataTable();
dt.Columns.Add("Column Name");
dt.Rows.Add("Column Data");
DataTable dt1 = dt.Clone();
DataTable dt2 = dt.Copy();

dt1 will have only the one column but dt2 will have one column with one row.

Datatable.Clone is slow for large tables. I'm currently using this:

Dim target As DataTable = 
    New DataView(source, "1=2", Nothing, DataViewRowState.CurrentRows)
    .ToTable()

Note that this only copies the structure of source table, not the data.

If you want the structure of a particular data table(dataTable1) with column headers (without data) into another data table(dataTable2), you can follow the below code:

        DataTable dataTable2 = dataTable1.Clone();
        dataTable2.Clear();

Now you can fill dataTable2 according to your condition. :)