Re Question 1:

If ADSM has never run before the user deletes the directory then,
obviously, there is no ADSM backup for it to recover.  If, however,
ADSM has already backed up all data in that directory and the inactive
versions retention period and counts have not expired, there will be
one or more backup copies of the files still tracked by ADSM and
available to restore.  In your backup copy parameters you can tell
ADSM to keep backup copies of data based on three criteria:
Does the data still exist?
How old is the backup?
How many other copies exist of this backup?

The relevant parameter pairs are:
"Retain Only Version" and "Retain Extra Versions"
"Versions Data Exists" and "Versions Data Deleted"

Check the "ADSM for <platform> Administration Guide" under the heading
"Creating Your Own Storage Management Policies".


Re Question 2:
The DSMC Restore command has FROMDATE, FROMTIME, TODATE and TOTIME
options.  These allow you to specify to the nearest second the dates
and times between which the target file has been backed up.  Knowing
when you deleted the data I guess you could achieve the objective of
your example by setting the TOxxx parameters and specifying that you
wanted the latest version available up to that time.

Refer to the "ADSM <platform> Backup-Archive Client" manual under the
heading "DSMC Restore--Restoring Files From Backups"

Hope this answers most of your concerns,
Murray Nicholas
IT Systems Consultant
Galeforce Information Services Pty Ltd
email:  murray AT galeforce.bu.aust DOT com