VMDK shows as zero bytes but flat data exists.
Administrator deleted a production VM folder via datastore browser.
| Task | Command | |------|---------| | List deleted files | vmfsundelete /vmfs/volumes/DS -l | | Recover by inode | vmfsundelete -R -i 12345 -o /recovery/disk.vmdk | | Repair VMDK header | vmkfstools -x repair disk.vmdk | | Clone VMDK skipping errors | vmkfstools -i bad.vmdk -d thin good.vmdk | | Scan for recoverable VMDK signatures | vmkfstools -V /vmfs/volumes/DS | | Show VMDK descriptor info | cat disk.vmdk |
vmkfstools -x repair /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/VM/VM.vmdk Recover a deleted VMDK by scanning free blocks (VMFS5/6 only).
Clone a partially readable VMDK (skip bad blocks).
vmkfstools -V /vmfs/volumes/datastore1 # Scans for recoverable VMDK signatures This outputs a list of candidate VMDKs with their start sector and size.
Recover Vmdk From Datastore ❲4K❳
VMDK shows as zero bytes but flat data exists.
Administrator deleted a production VM folder via datastore browser. recover vmdk from datastore
| Task | Command | |------|---------| | List deleted files | vmfsundelete /vmfs/volumes/DS -l | | Recover by inode | vmfsundelete -R -i 12345 -o /recovery/disk.vmdk | | Repair VMDK header | vmkfstools -x repair disk.vmdk | | Clone VMDK skipping errors | vmkfstools -i bad.vmdk -d thin good.vmdk | | Scan for recoverable VMDK signatures | vmkfstools -V /vmfs/volumes/DS | | Show VMDK descriptor info | cat disk.vmdk | VMDK shows as zero bytes but flat data exists
vmkfstools -x repair /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/VM/VM.vmdk Recover a deleted VMDK by scanning free blocks (VMFS5/6 only). Clone a partially readable VMDK (skip bad blocks)
Clone a partially readable VMDK (skip bad blocks).
vmkfstools -V /vmfs/volumes/datastore1 # Scans for recoverable VMDK signatures This outputs a list of candidate VMDKs with their start sector and size.
