Restoring a deleted .vmdk file in a VMware environment is a critical procedure that depends heavily on what specifically was deleted (the descriptor or the data file) and how quickly you act. Immediate Action: Stop All Activity
Let’s be honest—file-level undelete on VMFS is a gamble. The correct answer is your backup system. Veeam, VDPA, Nakivo, or native vSphere Replication. A restore from last night’s backup takes 15 minutes. A file-level scavenger hunt takes four hours and might yield a corrupted disk. vmware restore deleted vmdk
Run ls -l *-flat.vmdk to find the exact size of the data file in bytes. Restoring a deleted