Yesterday I have got an E-mail from somebody asking me how to restore deleted vmdk from VMFS5. They deleted VM but realised there are very important data.
Typical answer would be - "Restore from backup" - however they wrote that they don't have backup.
Fortunately, I have never had a need to restore deleted vmdk so I was starting to do some quick research (aka googling :-) )
I found VMware KB 1015413 with following statement ...
Warning: Use any third party tool for recovery on your own risk.
I absolutely understand that if you lose your important data you would like to try anything to recover it back however here are my general thoughts:
Typical answer would be - "Restore from backup" - however they wrote that they don't have backup.
Fortunately, I have never had a need to restore deleted vmdk so I was starting to do some quick research (aka googling :-) )
I found VMware KB 1015413 with following statement ...
"VMware does not offer data recovery services. This article provides contact information for data recovery service providers.I was sitting in the VMware office so I have asked colleagues if they have any practical experience with undeleting vmdk from VMFS. One colleague of mine suggested utility "VMFS Recovery" from DiskInternals.com. He had positive experience with this particular tool. His suggestion was to use trial version which should help to identify if recovery is possible and buy full version for recovery.
Note: VMware does not endorse or recommend any particular third-party utility, nor is this list meant to be exhaustive."
Warning: Use any third party tool for recovery on your own risk.
I absolutely understand that if you lose your important data you would like to try anything to recover it back however here are my general thoughts:
- Clone or snapshot your raw disk (LUN) with VMFS before any recovery (use storage array capabilities, third party imaging tool or *nix dd command)
- If your data are very valuable for you consider engagement of data recovery expert services
- When you do recovery by your self I wish you good luck.
1 comment:
Nice Post!
I appreciate your work very informative post. keep posting like this. I want to tell one more data recovery software that very helpful for you. By using VMDK file recovery software you can recover deleted vmdk from vmfs5.
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