Elias, the lead systems architect, didn't scream. He didn't have time. He held up a hand to silence the growing chatter of the team. "Shut down the host. Cut power to the physical drive. Now."

The room went silent. The only sound was the cooling fans spinning, mocking the stillness of the data.

"If the OS writes anything new to that physical sector, the traces of the VMDK are gone forever. Pull the plug."