diff --git a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/disk/page/PageFile.java b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/disk/page/PageFile.java
index a8f975ed88..a1319278ba 100644
--- a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/disk/page/PageFile.java
+++ b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/disk/page/PageFile.java
@@ -423,7 +423,8 @@ public class PageFile {
             }
 
             if (writeFile.length() < PAGE_FILE_HEADER_SIZE) {
-                writeFile.setLength(PAGE_FILE_HEADER_SIZE);
+                throw new IllegalStateException("File " + file + " is corrupt, length of "
+                    + writeFile.length() + " is less than page file header size of " + PAGE_FILE_HEADER_SIZE);
             }
             nextFreePageId.set((writeFile.length() - PAGE_FILE_HEADER_SIZE) / pageSize);
 
@@ -1165,12 +1166,6 @@ public class PageFile {
                     recoveryFile.write(w.getDiskBound(tmpFilesForRemoval), 0, pageSize);
                 }
 
-                // Can we shrink the recovery buffer??
-                if (recoveryPageCount > recoveryFileMaxPageCount) {
-                    int t = Math.max(recoveryFileMinPageCount, batch.size());
-                    recoveryFile.setLength(recoveryFileSizeForPages(t));
-                }
-
                 // Record the page writes in the recovery buffer.
                 recoveryFile.seek(0);
                 // Store the next tx id...
@@ -1262,8 +1257,6 @@ public class PageFile {
         if (recoveryFile.length() == 0) {
             // Write an empty header..
             recoveryFile.write(new byte[RECOVERY_FILE_HEADER_SIZE]);
-            // Preallocate the minium size for better performance.
-            recoveryFile.setLength(recoveryFileSizeForPages(recoveryFileMinPageCount));
             return 0;
         }
 
diff --git a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/util/RecoverableRandomAccessFile.java b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/util/RecoverableRandomAccessFile.java
index 309272a870..ca392da9db 100644
--- a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/util/RecoverableRandomAccessFile.java
+++ b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/util/RecoverableRandomAccessFile.java
@@ -374,10 +374,6 @@ public class RecoverableRandomAccessFile implements java.io.DataOutput, java.io.
         }
     }
 
-    public void setLength(long length) throws IOException {
-        throw new IllegalStateException("File size is pre allocated");
-    }
-
     public void seek(long pos) throws IOException {
         try {
             getRaf().seek(pos);
diff --git a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/disk/page/PageFileTest.java b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/disk/page/PageFileTest.java
index 7eceef1f7e..7e8278f5c9 100644
--- a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/disk/page/PageFileTest.java
+++ b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/disk/page/PageFileTest.java
@@ -367,20 +367,7 @@ public class PageFileTest extends TestCase {
     public void testRecoveryAfterUncleanShutdownAndZeroFreePages() throws Exception {
         final int numberOfPages = 1000;
         final AtomicBoolean recoveryEnd = new AtomicBoolean();
-
-        final var logger = org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Logger.class.cast(LogManager.getLogger(PageFile.class));
-        final var appender = new AbstractAppender("testAppender", new AbstractFilter() {}, new MessageLayout(), false, new Property[0]) {
-            @Override
-            public void append(LogEvent event) {
-                if (event.toImmutable().getLevel().equals(Level.INFO) && event.toImmutable().getMessage().getFormattedMessage().contains("Recovered pageFile free list")) {
-                    recoveryEnd.set(true);
-                }
-            }
-        };
-        appender.start();
-
-        logger.addAppender(appender);
-        logger.get().addAppender(appender, Level.DEBUG, new AbstractFilter() {});
+        createRecoveryAppender("testRecoveryAfterUncleanShutdownAndZeroFreePagesAppender", recoveryEnd);
 
         PageFile pf = new PageFile(new File("target/test-data"), getName());
         pf.delete();
@@ -414,22 +401,50 @@ public class PageFileTest extends TestCase {
 
     }
 
+    public void testRecoveryAfterUncleanShutdownAndMissingRecoveryFile() throws Exception {
+        final int numberOfPages = 1000;
+        final AtomicBoolean recoveryEnd = new AtomicBoolean();
+        createRecoveryAppender("testRecoveryAfterUncleanShutdownAndMissingRecoveryFileAppender", recoveryEnd);
+
+        PageFile pf = new PageFile(new File("target/test-data"), getName());
+        pf.delete();
+        pf.setEnableRecoveryFile(false);
+        pf.load();
+
+        LOG.info("Creating Transactions");
+        for (int i = 0; i < numberOfPages; i++) {
+            Transaction tx = pf.tx();
+            Page page = tx.allocate();
+            String t = "page:" + i;
+            page.set(t);
+            tx.store(page, StringMarshaller.INSTANCE, false);
+            tx.commit();
+        }
+
+        pf.flush();
+
+        assertEquals(pf.getFreePageCount(), 0);
+
+        //Simulate an unclean shutdown
+        PageFile pf2 = new PageFile(new File("target/test-data"), getName());
+        pf2.setEnableRecoveryFile(true);
+
+        // Simulate a missing recovery file
+        pf2.getRecoveryFile().delete();
+        pf2.load();
+
+        assertTrue("Recovery Finished", Wait.waitFor(recoveryEnd::get, 100000));
+
+        //Simulate a clean shutdown
+        pf2.unload();
+        assertTrue(pf2.isCleanShutdown());
+
+    }
+
     public void testBackgroundWillMarkUsedPagesAsFreeInTheBeginning() throws Exception {
         final int numberOfPages = 100000;
         final AtomicBoolean recoveryEnd = new AtomicBoolean();
-
-        final var logger = org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Logger.class.cast(LogManager.getLogger(PageFile.class));
-        final var appender = new AbstractAppender("pageAppender", new AbstractFilter() {}, new MessageLayout(), false, new Property[0]) {
-            @Override
-            public void append(LogEvent event) {
-                if (event.toImmutable().getLevel().equals(Level.INFO) && event.toImmutable().getMessage().getFormattedMessage().contains("Recovered pageFile free list")) {
-                    recoveryEnd.set(true);
-                }
-            }
-        };
-        appender.start();
-        logger.addAppender(appender);
-        logger.get().addAppender(appender, Level.DEBUG, new AbstractFilter() {});
+        createRecoveryAppender("testBackgroundWillMarkUsedPagesAsFreeInTheBeginningAppender", recoveryEnd);
 
         PageFile pf = new PageFile(new File("target/test-data"), getName());
         pf.delete();
@@ -519,4 +534,20 @@ public class PageFileTest extends TestCase {
 
         assertEquals("pages freed during recovery should be reused", numberOfPages, totalPages);
     }
+
+    private void createRecoveryAppender(String name, AtomicBoolean recoveryEnd) {
+        final var logger = org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Logger.class.cast(LogManager.getLogger(PageFile.class));
+        final var appender = new AbstractAppender(name, new AbstractFilter() {}, new MessageLayout(), false, new Property[0]) {
+            @Override
+            public void append(LogEvent event) {
+                if (event.toImmutable().getLevel().equals(Level.INFO) && event.toImmutable().getMessage().getFormattedMessage().contains("Recovered pageFile free list")) {
+                    recoveryEnd.set(true);
+                }
+            }
+        };
+        appender.start();
+
+        logger.addAppender(appender);
+        logger.get().addAppender(appender, Level.DEBUG, new AbstractFilter() {});
+    }
 }