Flat File Restore _verified_ - Vmware

In the world of enterprise virtualization, data protection strategies have long been dominated by two paradigms: full Virtual Machine (VM) recovery and file-level recovery (FLR). While full VM recovery is robust, it is slow. Traditional FLR, while faster, often requires spinning up temporary operating systems or mounting backup images. Enter VMware Flat File Restore —a granular, high-speed recovery method that changes how administrators think about retrieving individual data objects. What is VMware Flat File Restore? A "flat file" is simply a file that contains no structural relationships to other files—standard documents, spreadsheets, images, logs, and configuration files. In a VMware context, Flat File Restore refers to the ability to restore a single, individual file directly from a VMware snapshot or backup image without needing to restore the entire virtual disk (VMDK) or power on the VM.