Table of Contents >> Section II: Recovery Procedures

Chapter 2: Data or System Drive?

Successful recovery depends on whether the lost data still exists on the subject drive. When a file is deleted or a partition is formatted, data becomes inaccessible but still exists on disk and is recoverable using File Scavenger®. However, if the disk area occupied by a lost file has been written over by new data, the file cannot be recovered. Therefore you must "write-protect" the subject drive.

Knowing whether the subject drive is a system or data drive will help you determine the most effective recovery procedure. Read this chapter and then proceed to "Chapter 3: Recovering Files from a Data Drive" or "Chapter 4: Recovering Files from a System Drive."

A system drive is more difficult to recover from. When a computer is active, Windows® frequently updates the system drive, potentially overwriting any lost data. A data drive is less volatile and is not changed as long as the programs residing on it are inactive.

On a typical Windows® computer, drive C is the system drive and other drives are data drives. Note that My Documents, Desktop, etc. are folders, not drives.


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