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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

Corrupted VMDK flat file, how im can attach or extract contents?

Dear members

im try to attach my flat vmdk file but vmware cannot open or show a error

how im can attach vmdk in machine or extract contents?

Thanks

Almir

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ashilkrishnan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi Almir MicroMarket​,

If you have the flat.vmdk  files, you can re-create the missing VMDKs --> VMware Knowledge Base

Hope that helps

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Moderator: Thread moved to the vSphere Backup & Recovery area.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

I did this procedure but it doesn't work, see photo

hd7423.jpg

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

What files do you have, and do you not have?

You mentioned an error but didn’t say what it was and when you saw it?


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

im have the flat.vmdk

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ashilkrishnan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Did you edit the VMDK to point to existing flat disk ? Run following commands inside VM folder and share the outputs:

1. ls -l 

2. cat newcreated.vmdk

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

You still didn't give any info on the specific error or when you encountered it, but from the little you have said the KB article should help if you follow the process correctly.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

You can not  attach a flat.vmdk to a VM.

You must assign the descriptor-vmdk for the flat.vmdk instead.

Please do NOT create a new descriptor-vmdk following the Knowledgebase-article that was referenced here - that can make matters worse.

Please provide the error messages you received so far.

Please also look up the exact size of the flat.vmdk in bytes - then we can create a new descriptor - in case that is even necessary.


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Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

im not attach flat vmdk ! im follow the instructions  and create the vmdk file

but after vmdk power on the virtual hard disk are without files

see the image

what is the solutions to rescue the disc?

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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

im dont receive any error

but virtual disk power on without space and in raw format

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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

have any windows software to extract the files ?

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Take a deep breath and relax.

Now tell us what you exactly have ...


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

Dear Continuum

this vmdk is a secondary disk and have important files

im need help

im do this tutorial but without sucess VMware Knowledge Base

please help me

see image

hd7423.jpg

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ashilkrishnan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi There,

Screenshots from Windows is not much of a help. As requested earlier, we need details about the VM files within vSphere

Please share the following:

1. SSH to ESXi host --> navigate to VM folder --> Run  the following command to list all VM files: ls -al

2. Run following against the flat.vmdk for which we need to re-create base vmdk file: ls -l   flat.vmdkfile            ==> replace the file name here with the actual flat.vmdk file

3. Run following command against the new VMDK which was created after referring the KB provided earlier:  cat  vmname.vmdk    ==> Replace the file name here with the newly created vmdk file

I hope the instructions are clear

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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

im do this steps but vmdk power up blank

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ashilkrishnan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Again. Is there an issue sharing the information requested a couple of times now ?. If you do not want to share the VM name, you can censor the name and share the file extensions and their size

We need to first validate the VM files we have within vSphere to begin some troubleshooting and without that information, we are just going in circles and cannot come to any conclusion.

So let's start from the beginning. Please share information requested about the VM files.

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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

Can I try to send or vmdk to voice try to help me?

he has 65gb

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ashilkrishnan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

If you could provide the output of 3 commands I requested earlier, I can provide some instructions. We cannot view the contents of flat.vmdk.

As of now, we don't even know if the VMDK files which we have are good or corrupted.

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MicroMarket
Contributor
Contributor

what commands? im do these steps
VMware Knowledge Base

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