Hi Laura,
I am creating a Map of records which includes the deleted flag. Even though this flag is not part of the database schema (it's not accounted for in the hearder section) it is still associated with a record. So, I think that it is natural to group the record with its deleted flag.
I assume (using RAF) that it is possible to just overwrite one byte and not have to overwrite the entire file when updating - can someone confirm this for me?
Yes, you can overwrite a single byte in a file using RAF or multiple bytes. You just need to seek() to the desired position in the file and then call one of RAF's many write() methods. Which one is up to you but you'll probably find write(byte[]) pretty helpful.
I hope this helps.
Rich