Archiving/recovering print jobs

Can a print job that has finished printing (and been deleted) be recovered?

The deleted print job data files can sometimes be recovered with salvage/filer provided the files have not been purged, and your spool directories are not marked purgable.

In NetWare 3.x, the spool directories are SYS:SYSTEM\ABCD0123.QDR where ABCD1023 is the bindery object id of the queue. In NetWare 4x the directory can be set to any volume, and is usually in SYS:QUEUES\ABCD0123\ The number ABCD0123 is the NDS object id. Both id numbers are available in pconsole.

The file name of the print job is usually a number, 12345678.Q that reflects the print job number. This file contains only the print job data that is sent to the printer. Information about the print job such as the job owner, number of copies, job number, etc is stored by the server queue system in a database and is removed as soon as the print job is deleted. This information can not be recovered from the server after the job has been removed. (the database is the .SYS file in the spool directory, and is always open by the server.)

Please note however that this is not a method of "archiving" print jobs as they are printed. Since it depends on the server not purging deleted files, it may or may not provide you with the print job file you are looking for. Also, the job ownership and details are lost, only the print data can be recovered, and with many files in the spool directory, it will be hard to locate the one file you need.

Our QView Pro product has a new archiving feature to it that will copy all print jobs to a holding queue. You can download QView Pro from our web site.

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