A small text file (header) containing metadata, disk geometry, and the virtual hardware version.
Create a temporary small disk to steal its header:
In VMware terminology, the file is the actual raw data storage (the virtual hard drive), while the small header .vmdk file (without the "-flat" suffix) is merely a descriptor file containing geometry metadata.
The first number in the extent line is the number of sectors (size in bytes / 512). You can compute cylinder/head/sector values, but ESXi does not strictly require correct geometry for modern OS.
Enable SSH on your ESXi host and connect via a client (like Putty).
RW 83886080 VMFS "VM_name-flat.vmdk"
If the flat file was deleted but not overwritten:
