Need help in recovering data from delta vmdk

[vishnu81]

Hi,

I am having a big issue.

There was a Ubuntu 8.04 Server guest installed on VMWare ESXi 4.1

It was a VM of 200GB size.

Since, it was running on 99% full i tried to increase the size using

vmkfstools -X 210G /vmfs/datastore1/LinuxServer/LinuxServer.vmdk

But then it started giving the error,

"Failed to open (The parent virtual disk has been modified since the child was created)."

We had hell of a data on the VM, and the admin had not backed up any of them.

And to top these, the guy who created the VM has installed Ubuntu on LVM.(:smileyconfused:)

Then i noticed that in the Settings of the VM, the HDD was pointed to a delta vmdk like LinuxServer-000001-delta.vmdk(81GB)

but the main file seemed to be LinuxServer-flat.vmdk(210GB).

To try boot the machine again i messed up all the CIDs, now i dont know which is what.

On a last try, i tried creating another VM pointed to the flat vmdk.

Which seems to boot properly, but lots of file went missing.

Is there a way to recover the data using the delta vmdk??

Please help anyone.

[alexmitrea]

Hi.

@Shakaal

What do u mean by "2. Take the Backup of the existing files only vmdks, no delta or flat. "

All the best

[Shakaal]

.Hi Alexmitrea,

We took backup of only of vmdk's as we were uploading new vmdk files to replace the existing ones, some times client might ask for the old files, so just asked them to take the backup.

Thanks & Regards

Vakul Bhatt

[alexmitrea]

Hi.

Do those vmks contain imporatant config data or can it be ignored?

Im asking becose the same situation happened to me, and i did not backup the old vmks.

Really good post, helped me a lot.

Tx

[Shakaal]

hi Alexmitrea,

whenever you created a disk in VMware, therre will be 2 files in the back which will be created,:

1. <vmName>.vmdk : this is a pointer file

2. <vmName>-Flat.vmdk : this file holds the actual Data.

so they both have there own importance, but flat file is the one which is more important as it holds your Data. We can create .vmdk file even if it is lost, but if flat file is lost it can only be restored from backup.

Thanks & Regards

Vakul Bhatt