Undelete Does Not Recover Files that Appear Recoverable
PSS ID Number: Q104701
Article last modified on 09-30-1993
PSS database name: O_MSDOS

6.00

MS-DOS


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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft MS-DOS operating system version 6.0
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SYMPTOMS
========

If you run Microsoft Undelete from an MS-DOS command prompt, you may
receive the following message

   Delete Sentry control file contains 0 deleted files.

   Deletion-tracking file not found.

   MS-DOS directory contains <x> deleted files.
   Of those, <x> files may be recovered.

   Using the Delete Sentry method.

   No entries found.

where <x> is a number greater than zero.

CAUSE
=====

This message indicates that although there are deleted files that can
be recovered, Undelete could not find a directory entry for the files.
This is caused by a CONTROL.FIL file from an inactive installation of
Undelete Delete Sentry (UNDELETE /S), which interferes with the normal
MS-DOS Undelete function.

If Delete Sentry was loaded and then later unloaded, it may leave
behind a SENTRY directory containing the file CONTROL.FIL. After
unloading Delete Sentry from memory, if you delete a file and then try
to recover it by typing "undelete" (without the quotation marks) at
the MS-DOS command prompt, Undelete may not give you the option to
recover that file.

WORKAROUND
==========

To work around this problem, you must type "undelete /dos" (without
quotation marks) at the MS-DOS command prompt. This should allow you
to recover the file.

If you do not plan to use the Delete Sentry method of deletion
tracking, a permanent solution to this problem is to delete the SENTRY
directory by typing "deltree x:\sentry" (without the quotation marks),
where <x> is the drive that contains the SENTRY directory. Note that
after doing this, you can no longer recover any files that were
deleted while Delete Sentry was enabled.

Additional reference words: 6.00

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1993.