If the blocks have been overwritten, software recovery won't work. Shift your focus to these alternatives: Check Your Backup Software
find /vmfs/volumes/YourDatastore -name "*.vmdk"
cp /proc/<PID>/fd/<FD> /vmfs/volumes/datastore/path/recovered.vmdk
: If possible, power off other VMs running on the same volume to prevent them from writing new data over the deleted sectors. Method 1: Restore from Backups or Snapshots
**Stellar Data Recovery for VM: ** Excellent for repairing corrupted VMDKs and finding deleted volumes.
If the VM is still running (even if the VMDK was “deleted” via vSphere but the VM wasn’t removed), the file may still be open.
ls -la /vmfs/volumes/datastore/VMname/*-delta.vmdk
In some modern versions of ESXi, deleted blocks aren't immediately purged. However, native ESXi doesn't have a "Recycle Bin." You will likely need to use a specialized recovery environment like a with VMFS drivers (e.g., Ubuntu with vmfs-tools ) to mount the LUN as read-only and scrape for deleted inodes. 3. Best Third-Party Recovery Tools
Sometimes, only the small .vmdk descriptor file is missing, while the large -flat.vmdk (the actual data) remains on the disk.
Here’s a concise, action-oriented guide to recovering a deleted .vmdk (virtual disk file) from a VMware datastore, focusing on methods you can try .
If you have , Acronis , vSphere Data Protection , or similar: restore the VM or just the VMDK from backup.