Data file problem

Hi,

I am running oracle 8.1.6 instance having more than 2TB size in DEC station. One of the datafile of one of the tablespace got accidentely deleted. What I thought is to drop this datafile and recreate another one with same name and size.
To remove the things back what I did..

svrmgrl>startup mount
>alter database datafile '...' offline drop;
> statement processed.
>alter database open


Interesting thing is that though alter database datafile '...' offline drop shows statement processed but when I see dba_data_files data dictionary tables this data file is still there and that is the reason I am not able to recreate the same with the same name and size.

Any help will greatly appreciated.

you're not trying to get this datafile & its contents back, i'm assuming here. after the offline drop, you must drop the tablespace.

remember that tablespaces (a logical construct) are made of physical components, datafiles. you told oracle to forget about this physical component. now you have to tell it to dispense with the tablespace by dropping it.

d.