Restoring the VMFS ----------------------------------------------- To summarize the information in that document, to restore the VMFS you need to use the command fdisk to rebuild the partition table. Then move the start block to the proper alignment.
Then refresh and re-scan to access the partitions.
Using fdisk, however, can be dangerous and requires caution. Instructions for using fdisk:
- Add a new primary partition number 1 - Take default first and last cylinders - Change a partition's system id to fb or the VMFS partition id - Move the beginning of the data in the partition to have an offset of 128 used for VMFS -
Write the new partition table to the disk and exit - Repeat for all lost VMFS partitions.
This is what those instructions translated into for /dev/sda and /dev/sdc within my ESX host's service console:
# fdisk /dev/sda Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable. The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 39162.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024, and could, in certain setups, cause problems with two things: software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO) and/or booting and partitioning software from other OSs (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite) Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 1 First cylinder (1-39162, default 1):
Using default value 1 Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-39162, default 39162): Using default value 39162 Command (m for help): t Selected partition 1 Hex code (type L to list codes): fb Changed system type of partition 1 to fb (Unknown)
Command (m for help): x Expert command (m for help): b Partition number (1-4): 1 New beginning of data (63-629137529, default 63): 128 Expert command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered!
