Recovery Vmfs Datastore [hot] -

If the VMFS datastore is severely corrupted or inaccessible, you may need to use third-party tools to recover the data.

| ✅ Do | ❌ Don't | | :--- | :--- | | Power off VMs on affected datastore | Write any new files to the datastore | | Take a sector-level backup via dd first | Run voma -f fix without voma -f check | | Use rescan, mount, resignature first | Recreate VMFS unless backups exist | | Recover files to a different datastore | Attempt undelete without professional tools | recovery vmfs datastore

| Symptom | Likely Cause | Recovery Path | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Datastore missing from inventory | Unmounted, resigned, or partition table lost | Rescan, Mount, Resignature | | Datastore shows as "Unmounted" or "Inaccessible" | Host disconnection, storage path failure | Fix paths, force mount | | Datastore shows correct size but 0 KB free | Corrupted heartbeats or file system pointers | Metadata recovery (E2fsprogs / vSphere CLI) | | VMX files missing but VMDKs visible | Directory corruption | Manual file recovery (ls -laR) | | Accidental deletion of VM folders | Deleted from datastore browser | Undelete (very difficult) | If the VMFS datastore is severely corrupted or

Recovering a VMFS datastore requires careful planning and execution. By following these steps, administrators can increase the chances of successful recovery. It is essential to have a robust backup strategy in place to prevent data loss in the future. It is essential to have a robust backup

esxcfg-volume -m <UUID_of_snapshot>