Edit the new descriptor with vi to ensure the line RW [size] VMFS "[original-flat].vmdk" is correct.
When manual methods fail and no backups exist, specialized software can scan the VMFS file system to locate and extract deleted blocks. Need to recover vmdk deleted from a datastore : r/vmware recover deleted vmdk from vmware datastore
Rename temp.vmdk to match your original orphaned -flat file. Edit the new descriptor with vi to ensure
| Scenario | Outcome | Next Step | |----------|---------|------------| | Datastore >90% full at time of deletion | High chance of overwrite | Abandon DIY; try professional lab | | Deleted via vmkfstools -U with zeroing | Irrecoverable | Restore from backup | | Thin-provisioned VMDK | Fragmented recovery possible but slow | Carve by file signature (e.g., MBR, NTFS boot sector) | | ESXi 7.0/8.0 with VMFS 6 | Metadata zeroing more aggressive | Act fast (minutes, not hours) | | Scenario | Outcome | Next Step |
A VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk) is deleted from a VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) datastore via the vSphere Client or CLI. Unlike an NTFS or EXT4 "Trash Bin," VMFS-5/6 performs a but often leaves the raw data blocks intact until overwritten.
Recovering a deleted VMDK from a VMware datastore depends heavily on whether the actual data blocks (the -flat.vmdk file) were removed or if just the small descriptor file was lost. If the -flat.vmdk file has been deleted from the VMFS file system, it is difficult to recover because VMware immediately begins zeroing or unmapping that space.