Restores files that were previously deleted by using the DEL command.
UNDELETE offers three levels of protecting files against accidental deletion-- Delete Sentry, Delete Tracker, and Standard.
For information about the Windows version of UNDELETE, see the chapter "Managing Your System" in the DOS User's Guide, or see Windows Undelete Help.
UNDELETE [[drive:][path]filename] [/DT | /DS | /DOS]
UNDELETE [/LIST | /ALL | /PURGE[drive] | /STATUS | /LOAD | /U[NLOAD] | /S[drive] | /Tdrive[-entries]]
The list shows each disk size, its default number of entries, and its corresponding file size:
Disk size Entries File size
360K 25 5K
720K 50 9K
1.2 MB 75 14K
1.44 MB 75 14K
20 MB 101 18K
32 MB 202 36K
>32 MB 303 55K
Disk size Entries File size
CAUTION: Do not use deletion tracking for any drive that has been redirected by using the JOIN or SUBST command. If you intend to use the ASSIGN command, you must do so before using UNDELETE to install deletion tracking.
none.
CAUTION: Once you delete a file from your disk, you may not be able retrieve it. Although the UNDELETE command can recover deleted files, it can do so with certainty only if no other files have been created or changed on the disk. If you accidentally delete a file that you want to keep, stop what you are doing and immediately use the UNDELETE command to retrieve the file.
The operating system provides three levels of protection against accidental file deletion:
Delete Sentry provides the highest level of protection. Delete Sentry requires a small amount of memory and disk space. The next level of protection is Delete Tracker, which requires the same amount of memory as Delete Sentry, but minimal disk space. The lowest level of protection, Standard, requires neither memory nor disk space, but still allows you to recover deleted files, provided that their location on the disk has not been taken by other files.
For more details, see the notes that follow about each level of protection.
Delete Sentry provides the highest level of protection to ensure that you can recover deleted files. This level of protection creates a hidden directory named SENTRY. When you delete a file, UNDELETE moves the file from its current location to the SENTRY directory without changing the record of the file's location in the file allocation table (FAT). If you undelete the file, the operating system moves the file back to its original location.
The size of the SENTRY directory and its files is limited to approximately 7 percent of your hard disk space. If you delete a file and the directory and its files exceed this limit, UNDELETE purges the oldest files until enough space has been freed to accommodate the newly deleted file.
In addition to the disk space needed for the SENTRY directory, Delete Sentry requires 13.5K of memory for the memory-resident portion of the UNDELETE program.
Delete Tracker provides an intermediate level of protection. It uses a hidden file named PCTRACKER.DEL to record the location of deleted files. When you delete a file, the operating system changes the file allocation table (FAT) to indicate that the location of the file is now available for another file. You can recover the deleted file provided that another file has not been placed in that location. If another file has been placed there, you may be able to partially recover the deleted file.
Delete Tracker requires 13.5K of memory for the memory-resident portion of the UNDELETE program and a minimal amount of disk space for the PCTRACKER.DEL file.
The standard level of protection is automatically available when you switch on your computer. Of the three levels of guarding against accidental file deletion, it provides the lowest level of protection. However, it does not require you to load a memory-resident program. It also has the advantage of requiring neither memory nor disk space.
Using this level of protection, you can recover a deleted file, provided the operating system has not placed another file in the deleted file's location. If a file has been placed there, you may be unable to recover all or part of the deleted file.
Use any one of: /DOS, /DT, or /DS. If you do not specify a switch, UNDELETE uses Delete Sentry, if it is available. If Delete Sentry is not available, UNDELETE uses the Delete Tracker file, if available. If a deletion-tracking file is not available, UNDELETE attempts to recover files by using the operating system.
CAUTION: UNDELETE cannot restore a directory that has been removed, and it cannot retrieve a file if you have removed the directory that contained the file. If the directory was an immediate subdirectory of the root directory, you may be able to retrieve the directory and its files if you first use the UNFORMAT command to restore the directory and then use UNDELETE to retrieve the files. You must use caution because you can lose data if you use UNFORMAT incorrectly. Usually, UNFORMAT can restore only immediate subdirectories of the root directory. However, when you use UNFORMAT to recover an accidentally formatted disk, UNFORMAT recovers all root-level files and subdirectory names.
UNDELETE uses the UNDELETE.INI file to define values when UNDELETE is loaded into memory. If the file does not exist when you load UNDELETE into memory, UNDELETE creates an UNDELETE.INI file that contains the values:
The UNDELETE.INI file has five sections:
The [sentry.drives] section specifies the drives protected by the Delete Sentry method, if used.
The [sentry.files] section specifies the files protected from deletion using either Delete Tracker or Delete Sentry. A hypen (-) before a filename indicates that the file is not saved. The default values defined in the [sentry.files] section are:
[sentry.files] *.* -*.TMP -*.VM? -*.WOA -*.SWP -*.SPL -*.RMG -*.IMG -*.THM -*.DOV
The [mirror.drives] section specifies the drives protected by the Delete Tracker method, if used.
The [configuration] section defines the values:
The [defaults] section specifies the method of file tracking. This defines the default Delete Sentry method:
[defaults]
d.sentry=TRUE
d.tracker=FALSE
You can use only one method of file protection at a time. If you want to change the method, carry out the procedure:
Unload the memory-resident portion of the Undelete program by typing:
UNDELETE /U
Enable the new level of protection and reload the memory-resident portion of the Undelete program. For example, to enable the Delete Sentry level of protection on your current drive, type:
UNDELETE /S
The Undelete program protects all drives specified in the UNDELETE.INI file, regardless of the drives you specify when you start the program. For example, suppose your UNDELETE.INI file contains the entry:
[sentry.drives]
C=
D=
This command enables the Delete Sentry level of protection on both drives C and D:
UNDELETE /SC
To enable protection only on drive C, you would do:
To protect files on a network drive from accidental deletion, you must enable the Delete Sentry level of protection and have read, write, create, and delete file access in the drive's root directory.
This command specifies that UNDELETE is to recover all deleted files in the current directory one at a time, to prompt for confirmation on each file, and to use the highest available level of delete tracking:
UNDELETE
This command specifies that UNDELETE is to recover all deleted files with the .BAT extension in the root directory of drive C, without prompting for confirmation on each file:
UNDELETE C:\*.BAT /ALL
This command loads the memory-resident portion of the UNDELETE program into memory, creates a hidden directory named SENTRY, and specifies that UNDELETE move files you delete on drive C to that directory:
UNDELETE /SC
This command loads the memory-resident portion of the UNDELETE program into memory and creates a PCTRACKER.DEL file to track up to 400 deleted files on drive C:
UNDELETE /TC-400
none.