File |link| - Undelete Vmfs

Unlike ext4 or NTFS, VMFS does not have a native "Trash/Recycle Bin" visible through the vSphere Client. However, under certain conditions, deleted files can be recovered using low-level tools.

# Disk DescriptorFile version=1 If you find the start offset: undelete vmfs file

sudo vmfs-undelete /dev/sdX1 /recovery_folder This scans for orphaned file entries. If you know the filename or extension: Unlike ext4 or NTFS, VMFS does not have

dd if=/dev/sdX1 of=recovered.vmdk bs=512 skip=START_BLOCK count=BLOCKS This is tedious and only works for non-fragmented files. | Action | Purpose | |--------|---------| | Enable VMFS undelete (VMFS5/6 only) | esxcli storage vmfs undelete enable -l datastore1 | | Use snapshots + backups | Primary recovery method | | Set storage vMotion before deletions | Move critical VMs off datastore | | Configure trash can (NFS only) | Not native to VMFS | | Lower DeleteTimeout (advanced param) | Prevents accidental bulk deletes | Check if undelete is supported esxcli storage vmfs undelete status -l datastore_name If enabled, use: If you know the filename or extension: dd

hexdump -C /tmp/vmfs_dump.raw | grep "44 4b 4d 56" Expected header start (little-endian):