Preserve the complete estate
- Copy data, indexes, memo files, dictionaries, executables and configuration together.
- Identify signatures and runtime/database-engine dependencies.
- Record the DOS code page and known reports or field values.
- Use emulation only on working copies to observe application behavior.
- Extract with explicit schema and retain source record identifiers.
Indexes may be rebuildable, while a missing memo companion can mean content is genuinely absent.
Migration evidence
Reconcile record counts, keys, totals, deleted-record rules and representative text. Preserve the recovered estate through legacy database application preservation.
Use DBF recovery, encoding diagnosis, obsolete-software recovery and the database pillar.