diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/log/LogManager.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/log/LogManager.scala
index 1d4f885..5f0148c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/log/LogManager.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/log/LogManager.scala
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ private[kafka] class LogManager(val config: KafkaConfig,
     for(dir <- dirs) {
       /* check if this set of logs was shut down cleanly */
       val cleanShutDownFile = new File(dir, CleanShutdownFile)
-      val needsRecovery = cleanShutDownFile.exists
+      val needsRecovery = !cleanShutDownFile.exists
       cleanShutDownFile.delete
       /* load the logs */
       val subDirs = dir.listFiles()