Step 1: Protect the Subject Drive

Immediately write-protect the subject drive to ensure no new data is written to it. New data may overwrite the lost data. Once overwritten data cannot be recovered.

The procedure is as follows:

• Stop programs on this computer that may write to the drive. For example if the drive holds SQL databases, SQL programs must be stopped. In another example, if your email program is on the drive, stop using email.
• Disable all shared folders on the drive to prevent other computers from writing new data to them.
• If you need to reboot the computer, make sure the Windows® Scan Disk (or Check Disk) utility is not run. If Windows ® decides the drive needs to be repaired, it will ask for your permission to run this utility. You must choose “No” because Scan Disk can further compound the problem.