File

This section contains the following topics:

For a list of file attributes, see Description of Directory and File Attributes.

File Compression

Use the following information as background for using file compression to optimize system performance:

NetWare maintains the original version of a file during compression. When compression completes, NetWare replaces the original with the compressed version of the file, provided no errors occurred. If errors do occur during compression, NetWare leaves the original version intact.

If you have a CD-ROM volume mounted as a volume, treat it as a read-only volume. Do not use file compression on it.

Compression is a usually a low priority process thread because of compression's impact on performance. If you flag an item for immediate compression during peak system usage, performance may deteriorate. (See FLAG.)
You do not need to separate application files from data files to be compressed. The SET command can be used to preclude compression of frequently used applications. (See SET.)
Monitor compression activity via the SET command's compress screen parameter. (see SET.)
Backup applications that use Novell's Storage Management Services^TM (SMS) back up and restore compressed files as such. Other applications may decompress them.

Salvageable Files

Salvageable files are files saved by NetWare, after being deleted by users, that can be salvaged (recovered).

Salvageable files are usually stored in the directory from which they were deleted. If a user deletes that directory, the salvageable files are saved in a DELETED.SAV directory located in the volume's root directory.

The user can view a list of deleted files in a directory and recover files by using NetWare Administrator. (See Salvaging Deleted Files for instructions, or see the help in NetWare Administrator.) Recovered files contain information about who deleted the files and when they were deleted.

Deleted files are saved until the user deliberately purges them or until the NetWare server runs out of disk allocation blocks on the volume.

File Purging

When the NetWare server runs out of blocks, it purges deleted files beginning with the files that were the first deleted. Purged files cannot be salvaged.

Files and directories can also be purged as they are deleted. You can do this one of two ways:

Use the SET command (see SET) at the NetWare server to disable the salvageable file feature. You do this by setting the parameter named Immediate Purge of Deleted Files to ON. This increases performance, but at the cost of losing the salvageable file feature. The default for this parameter is OFF (this means that by default, files are salvaged when they are deleted instead of being purged immediately).
Set the Purge attribute for individual files and directories. When a file is flagged with the Purge attribute, the file is purged when it is deleted.
When a directory is flagged with the Purge attribute, all files in that directory are purged when the directory is deleted. Such files and directories can't be recovered.
Use NetWare Administrator or PURGE to manually purge individual files and directories. (See Purging Files for instructions, or see NetWare Administrator or PURGE for a general description of those utilities.)