: If the VMDK is critical and you have no backup, stop all host activity and contact a professional data recovery service that specializes in VMFS filesystems.
stop all write operations to that datastore immediately. New data being written can overwrite the blocks where your deleted VMDK was stored, making it permanently unrecoverable. Would you like a more detailed step-by-step for a specific backup tool or the ESXi command-line method? AI can make mistakes, so double-check responses Copy Creating a public link... You can now share this thread with others Good response Bad response 5 sites How to Restore Deleted VMDK from Datastore in Easy Steps? Nov 22, 2025 — restore deleted vmdk from datastore
Typical workflow :