Before recovering a VVDS, decide if the VVDS is systematically damaged, or if only certain entries in the VVDS are damaged. If you cannot open the VVDS, for example, when you try to print it or access data sets which have entries in it, then the VVDS is probably systematically damaged, and should be recovered in its entirety.

If you can open the VVDS, run DIAGNOSE to determine which entries are damaged. You can then use the access method services DELETE command followed by data set recovery to recreate the VVDS entries for the affected data sets, and avoid a total VVDS recovery.

If you decide you must recover the VVDS in its entirety, then all data sets represented in the VVDS must be recovered, either individually or by a full-volume restore. Use DFSMSdss or DFSMShsm for volume recovery.

If you are not using SMS, then only VSAM data sets are affected. Otherwise, all data sets on the volume are affected, and must be recovered.

Before recovering a volume, it is necessary to get the volume offline, so that users cannot allocate resources on the volume as you try to restore it. Use the following procedure to get the volume offline if it is not managed by the Storage Management Subsystem:

1. Use the VARY command to get the volume offline.
2. Use the DISPLAY command to determine if the volume has been successfully varied offline, or if resources are still allocated on the volume.
3. Use MODIFY CATALOG to unallocate the VVDS or any catalogs on the volume which are allocated. Use the VUNALLOCATE parameter to unallocate the VVDS. Use the UNALLOCATE command to unallocate the catalog.

If the volume is SMS-managed, set the SMS VOLUME STATUS to DISALL before using the VARY command. Then, check for allocations with the DISPLAY command, and use MODIFY CATALOG if necessary.

After you have gotten control of the volume, use DFSMShsm or DFSMSdss to recover it. For information on using the DFSMShsm RECOVER command to recover a volume with incremental backup copies, see z/OS DFSMShsm Storage Administration. For information on volume recovery with DFSMSdss, see z/OS DFSMSdfp Storage Administration.