An employee reports that their workstation has recently suffered frequent instances of data loss and file corruption. As part of your diagnosis, what is the FIRST action you should take to determine the root cause of the issue?
Recreate the user profiles as they may be causing data mismanagement.
Scan for missing or damaged files within the user's file system.
Check for any error messages in the S.M.A.R.T. status and LED status indicators on storage drives.
Conduct an antivirus scan to rule out malware as the root cause for data loss.
The most logical initial step when approaching a problem with potential data loss or corruption is to check the status of any storage drives, as they directly deal with data. The LED status indicators and S.M.A.R.T. status can quickly reveal if there are hardware issues with the storage drives that could lead to data loss or corruption. Checking for missing or damaged files would typically be done after confirming that the hardware is fully operational, as file issues can be a symptom of drive distress. Recreating user profiles and conducting antivirus scans are secondary actions that address system integrity and security concerns after hardware issues have been ruled out or taken care of.
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