Re: Undelete volume??

[jp1@aol.com (JP1)]

Louis 

When you say "Salvation", are you referring to a _specific_ Salvation
(series) application?  Deliverance, perhaps?

More to the point, Salvation-Deliverance, the volume/file reapir util, was
designed to recover 'lost' directories and files...among other functions. 
If you've not tried it on your volume, you should.

Deliverance's internal logic differs some from that of ProSel in the 'file
recovery' mode, and while both utils are more-or-less comparable in
recovering the easy to fairly difficult lost files, they have varying
degres of success with the tough cases.  Neither is perfect, so one's
chances are best when both are tried.

(Aside: In some of the very tough cases, ProSel elects not to try to
recover or repair.  Deliverance is more daring, but as a result, it's not
unusual for it to crash when trying to recover or repair something that's
completely wacked.  The difference in approach reflects the differing
points of view of the respective designers.)

Since the root directory of a ProDOS volume can hold no more than 51
entries, that's the greatest number of files that neither Deliverance nor
ProSel would be able to recover automatically...though some recovery can
be done manually.  Presuming that you had at least some folders in the
root directory, the number of lost files is less than 51.

In a prior lifetime, I worked out a somwhat-comprehensive logic tree for
assessing blocks that might belong to 'lost' files in a volume's root
directory.  Grim the code would be a nightmare. 

If nothing else, you've learned from your experience that it's wise to
keep virtually every file in a folder, not in the root directory.  (I go
so far as to keep a folder called Root.Files on every HD volume, in which
I keep a copy of any files that must be in the root.)

Good luck.  If you need any advice re using Deliverance, send a message.

(I tried to post this message earlier, and AOL puked.  If there are
multiple version, my apology.)

John P.