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Joerg1
Contributor
Contributor

Recover a deleted Folder with a VMDK file inside

Hi all,

 

I just migrated an ESXI Server 6.5 to 7 and also had to migrate the Data from one JOBOD to a newer one. That works well with one exception:

I removed a Virtual machine from the old environment and moved the VMDK to the new JBOD. This VMDK was only an extra Hard Disk for this Virtual Machine. The VM itself and all files and folders moved correctly and it works. The extra VMDK file which contains only data was also moved correctly to the new JBOD System (Synology NAS). I startet the VM and all data was there.

I then realized, that the VMD with the data was moved to a wrong destination at The new JBOD, so I shutdown the Machine, moved the VMDK to another NFS Storage and the ESXI told me done. Then I saw that the old file still was on the wrong NFS System (I placed it inside of a folder). I then deleted this folder with the VMDK inside.

After that I started the Virtual Machine and realized, that the extra VMDK with the files inside was missing so I took a look at the Filebrowser in the ESXI Host. I found the VMDK but it had 0 Byte.

Unfortunately I have no backup of this file - I know this is not good but do not help me if you will mention it. I know that this is not good.

Question: is there any chance of recover this old folder which I deleted in the Filebrowser of the ESXI Host?

Thanks in advanced and regards

Joerg

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scott28tt
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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Hi Joerg

please read https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-vSphere-Documents/Create-a-VMFS-Header-dump-using-an-ESXi-H...

I specialize on such issues and in the linked article I describe what I need to look into it.

Regards Ulli

 


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Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
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Joerg1
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Hi Ulli,

 

thanks for your answer and I will follow linked the article you send to me.

Ohne question before I move on: As I described, I moved the VMDK from an old JBOD System to a newer one. Of course after the move process, I can not see the VMDK (inside of a folder) on the old system any more. Do the ESXI System delete this file completely or is there also a chance to recover the VMDK from the old system as well?

I just try to find out how big the chances are because I have the new JBOD and also the old JBOD and there are two chances you know what I mean?

 

Thanks in advance

Joerg

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Joerg1
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Hi Ulli,

 

i am struggling a bit to create the VMFS-Header-Dump.

The article told me that I need the device and partNum. The Datastore I have is mounted via NFS and I cannot find the right data:

naa.1234567812345678:1 (just an example)

then Device is naa.1234567812345678 and partNum is 1

The command: ls -lisa | grep -v vml shows me only the direct connected devices (I have two direct attached HDs in the ESXI Host).

So how can I create this dump for a mounted NFS Volume?

Thanks

Joerg

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

With NFS my undelete approach does not work.

You should contact the vendor of the NFS-server - maybe they have some tips ?

If that is a NFS-server you build yourself using Linux - what is the filesystem that you used for the NFS-shares ?


________________________________________________
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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Joerg1
Contributor
Contributor

Ok i understand.

 

What is about the old JBOD System i have? This is direct attached toESXI 6.5 Host and as i described i moved a VMDK to the new NFS Systems. May i recover the VMDK on the old Storage?

Thanks and regatds

Joerg

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

good idea - create a VMFS header dump for that volume and I will look into it.

Ulli

 

 


________________________________________________
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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Joerg1
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Hi Ulli,

 

I successfully created the Dump on my old Datastore. What do I have to do next?

 

Thanks

Joerg

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Joerg1
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Hi Ulli,

 

i forgot to mention that I also create all the files and readme.txt files as described in the article you send to me. I used 7zip to compress the folder I created and it is about 1.3 GB.

I dienet find any information where to upload the file and hope you can tell me what to do next.

 

Thanks

Joerg

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Joerg1
Contributor
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Hi all,

 

any suggestion from anyone? I created a Dump as mentioned form Ulla and no I don't know what to do next. Any help is much appreciated.

 

I guess the goal is to recreate the VMDK description file. However in order to have that worked out I guess I need also the vodka-flat file which I cannot see on the datastore (in the browser it is gone - because I moved the file but I also cannot see it with Putty and do an ls under the volume). In the Dump file I can see all the informations related to this vodka file.

 

Thanks a lot - I really need some urgent help here.

 

Joerg

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

I have not seen the dump ? - if you want me to look into it - call me on skype and we can arrange a Teamviewer-session

Ulli


________________________________________________
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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Joerg1
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Hi Ulli,

thanks so much for coming back to me. I will try to reach out to you on Skype. Today I have other meetings. Is it possible to have a chat tomorrow? And is there anything I can prepare (Linux Machine on the Host where the datastore resist etc.)?

 

Thanks

Joerg

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Hi

at the moment I do not have enough knowledge about the problem to suggest the next steps.
Lets have a Teamviewer session asap and decide what needs to be done.
Ulli


________________________________________________
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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Joerg1
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Contributor

Short interim results:

Ulla got in contact with me and we had a Skype session today.

He then professionaly examined the situation and used several Tools to caree out the lost data from the Datastore. This is still work in progress but it looks good so far. I have to thank Ulla a lot that he takes his time to help me wit this problem and I feel very confident with him to find a solution.

I will keep you updated

Joerg

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

Doing housecalls via Skype plus Teamviewer can be a quite challenging and exhausting task.
Especially if google translator is required as a "man in the middle" the job turns into really dry exhausting work and is no fun at all.

If the conditions are not not ideal the interaction with the local admin may look like:

Me: please enter a colon in the putty session.
Local Admin: what is a colon ?

In an environment like that I am happy if I acchieve the expected results and dont waste time with unnecessary extra steps.
But luckily such cases are quite rare.

In the case this discussion is about the exact opposite happened:
When we met via Teamviewer right before the battle Jane appeared very lightly armed :just with a Macbook !!!
Of course I immediatly had to check if he was really ready for the battle and challenged Jane with the usual
"Give me an @ in that putty session" 
But there was no reason to be worried: - before I could even follow up the "give me an @" with the lame "How do you detect vSphere-admins with hidden masochistic tendencies ?" joke, Jane had blocked the @ challenge with the sneaky "google : email" move.
At this very moment we both knew that we were ready for the battle.

A few hours into the fight we decided to use a next level move that I had prepared, rehearsed and calculated since years and had only waited for a perfect moment to use it for the first time. Of course it is Janes battle and so I asked for permission.

A few seconds later - almost inaudible - just 2 db above the whistle of the wind in the trees I heard the whispered first few bars of "Get off" by Prince - which was the pre-arranged  code word.

We were ready to go for next level .... our enemy was not.
cd  /vmfs/volumes/datastore
mkdir titten100

Seconds after the last 0 was written out, the sun reappeared in the skies and every dophin sitting in the trees and watching the fight knew: this battle is over.

Final results are expected later this sunday ...

Ulla out

 


________________________________________________
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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