Recover Deleted Vmdk From Vmware Datastore [hot] Jun 2026

cd /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/VM_name/

| 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) | recover deleted vmdk from vmware datastore

: If you have existing snapshots, you may be able to use the Snapshot Manager to revert the VM to a state before the deletion. Need to recover vmdk deleted from a datastore : r/vmware

Often, a "deleted" VMDK actually refers to the small text-based descriptor file ( .vmdk ), while the large data file ( -flat.vmdk ) remains on the datastore. the blocks are marked as free.

Before trusting the VMDK:

If both files were deleted through the vSphere Client ("Remove from Disk"), the blocks are marked as free. Need to recover vmdk deleted from a datastore : r/vmware