Recover Vmdk From Datastore [best] May 2026

vmkfstools -x repair /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/VM/VM.vmdk Recover a deleted VMDK by scanning free blocks (VMFS5/6 only).

| 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 | recover vmdk from datastore

Administrator deleted a production VM folder via datastore browser. vmkfstools -x repair /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/VM/VM

VMDK shows as zero bytes but flat data exists. recover vmdk from datastore