Preserving Deleted Records

Both the deleted_record column (bit 10) and the update_type column (bit 11 only) may be used to preserve deleted records, which is useful when trying to recreate updates to the database.

Be aware of the following when using these bits:

• Bit 11 preserves only the last instance of the deleted record. For instance, if the key value of the deleted record is reused, the deleted record is removed when the duplicate (new) record is inserted.
• The value in bit 10 becomes part of the key (and is therefore unique), so you can keep multiple instances of the deleted record.

In addition, you must cleanup deleted images when they are no longer needed.

Note: If you use the first method (bit 11) to preserve deleted records, the deleted records will only survive during a reclone if you set the preserve_deletes parameter to True. If you use the second method (bit 10), the deleted records will always be preserved during a reclone.