: An ESXi 6.7 host loses a VMFS6 datastore after accidental vmfs6 format over a 2 TB LUN containing 15 VMs. No backup.
| Feature | DiskInternals VMFS Recovery | UFS Explorer RAID Recovery | R-Studio for ESXi (Agent) | Stellar VMFS Recovery | |---------|----------------------------|----------------------------|---------------------------|-----------------------| | VMFS6 support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | RAID reconstruction | Basic (auto-detect) | Advanced (custom layouts) | Limited | Basic | | Over iSCSI initiator | Built-in | Requires separate connection | Uses agent on ESXi | No | | Preview before recovery | Yes (text, small files) | Yes (full hex+text) | No (only file names) | Yes | | Price (approx) | $299 | $399 | $349 | $249 | | Recovery of deleted VMFS partition | Yes | Yes | No (requires agent) | Yes | | Free trial | Preview only | Preview only | Preview only | 1 GB recovery limit | diskinternals vmfs recovery full
| Limitation | Explanation | |------------|-------------| | No in-place repair | The tool is read-only; it does not fix the original VMFS volume. | | VMFS6 thin provisioning | Recovery of thin-provisioned VMDK blocks requires mapping of SEsparse (Snapshot) – not always fully recovered. | | Encrypted VMFS | Does not support self-encrypting drives (SED) or VMFS encryption (vSphere 6.7+). | | File names lost in Full Analysis | Recovered files are renamed to file_xxxxx.vmdk – manual identification needed. | | Large VMDK fragmentation | Severe fragmentation without metadata may result in incomplete or corrupted VMDK assembly. | | Cost | Licensed version required for actual data export (trial shows preview only). | : An ESXi 6
Allows for online recovery via SSH or iSCSI, meaning you don't always have to shut down the host server to access data. | | VMFS6 thin provisioning | Recovery of
: 87% data recovery success.