How To Recover A Deleted Vmdk File From A Datastore =link=

⚠️ : The fastest and safest recovery is from a backup. Regular, tested backups are your only guarantee against accidental deletion.

Below is a step-by-step guide to maximize your chances of successful recovery. how to recover a deleted vmdk file from a datastore

If metadata is lost, carve by VMDK headers: ⚠️ : The fastest and safest recovery is from a backup

VMFS (VMware File System) versions 5 and 6 maintain a .lost+found directory at the root of the datastore. When files become orphaned (usually due to a crash or abrupt termination of a process), the VMFS file system checker may move them here instead of deleting them. If metadata is lost, carve by VMDK headers:

This article explores methods to recover deleted VMDK files from VMFS datastores.

In some rare cases, if the space has not yet been overwritten, you can attempt to recover the file using vmkfstools on the ESXi shell. This is less likely to work if significant time has passed, but worth a try.