Mark,

        I hit the same wall recently.  The only way to do what you want is
to backup the recovery catalog before you do the delete and restore it
afterwards.  Obviously, you would want to backup the current one before
restoring the old one.  I had to delete all the filespaces for the agent,
the DBA had to delete all his entries, and we started all over again.
That's one lesson learned the hard way, by the DBA and myself.

        Bottom line, make sure the DBAs read the doc and know how to
manipulate the backups using the agent before you go into production.  Don't
let anything happen that the agent is not aware of or it will return to
haunt you.

        Gary L. Ison
        Governor's Office for Technology
        101 Cold Harbor Drive
        Frankfort, Ky.   40601
        Phone:  (502) 564-8724
            Fax:  (502) 564-6856
E-mail: Gary.Ison AT mail.state.ky DOT us <mailto:Gary.Ison AT mail.state.ky 
DOT us>