diff -ur mongodb-src-r2.4.5.orig/src/mongo/db/pdfile.cpp mongodb-src-r2.4.5/src/mongo/db/pdfile.cpp
--- mongodb-src-r2.4.5.orig/src/mongo/db/pdfile.cpp	2013-07-02 12:27:08.000000000 -0700
+++ mongodb-src-r2.4.5/src/mongo/db/pdfile.cpp	2013-08-06 18:03:24.000000000 -0700
@@ -216,10 +216,49 @@
 
     void _applyOpToDataFiles( const char *database, FileOp &fo, bool afterAllocator = false, const string& path = dbpath );
 
+    // dereferences the given symlink
+    // if it's a directory, removes all of the target directory's contents
+    void _deleteSymlinkDirectoryContents(boost::filesystem::path symlink) {
+        boost::filesystem::path targetDirectory = boost::filesystem::read_symlink( symlink );
+
+        if ( boost::filesystem::exists(targetDirectory) &&
+                boost::filesystem::is_directory(targetDirectory) ) {
+
+            typedef std::vector<boost::filesystem::path> vec;
+            vec v;
+
+            copy(
+                boost::filesystem::directory_iterator(targetDirectory),
+                boost::filesystem::directory_iterator(),
+                std::back_inserter(v)
+            );
+
+            for (vec::const_iterator it (v.begin()); it != v.end(); ++it) {
+                boost::filesystem::remove_all(*it);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     void _deleteDataFiles(const char *database) {
         if ( directoryperdb ) {
             FileAllocator::get()->waitUntilFinished();
-            MONGO_ASSERT_ON_EXCEPTION_WITH_MSG( boost::filesystem::remove_all( boost::filesystem::path( dbpath ) / database ), "delete data files with a directoryperdb" );
+
+            // target directory path
+            boost::filesystem::path targetDirectory = boost::filesystem::path( dbpath ) / database;
+
+            // if the database "directory" is actually a symlink that points to a directory
+            // then remove the contents of the target directory without breaking the symlink
+            if ( boost::filesystem::exists(targetDirectory) &&
+                    boost::filesystem::is_symlink(targetDirectory) &&
+                    boost::filesystem::is_directory(targetDirectory) ) {
+
+                MONGO_ASSERT_ON_EXCEPTION_WITH_MSG( _deleteSymlinkDirectoryContents( targetDirectory ),"delete data files with a directoryperdb symlink" );
+
+            // otherwise, delete the directory (or whatever it actually is)
+            } else {
+                MONGO_ASSERT_ON_EXCEPTION_WITH_MSG( boost::filesystem::remove_all( targetDirectory ), "delete data files with a directoryperdb" );
+            }
+
             return;
         }
         class : public FileOp {