VMFS datastore data recovery

[carl78]

Hello,

​I would like to advice with you.

​I had datastore on RAID 0. I lost it after re-installation of my ESXi hypervisor. I made a mistake and recreated a new datastore on the place of old datastore. No data was not written on this datastore. I can say that I see it in ls vmfs/volumes..but it is empty.

​Do you think that I have lost data definitely?

​​​thank you very much, Olda

[carl78]

ohh, I already did it via first option...but I try the second too. It will be better for you.

[carl78]

continuum​ I wasnt successfull. Short write error again. The file should have around 1,6 GB. There is the limit for moa directory 1GB

[continuum]

ok - we are making progress ....

If you still have the /moa ramdisk - delete old.gz

and run

dd if=/dev/disks/naa.600508b1001c5afa370b08de8580cd9c:1 bs=1M count=1024 skip=0     | gzip -c > /moa/olda-0.gz

### download olda-0.gz and delete it from /moa

dd if=/dev/disks/naa.600508b1001c5afa370b08de8580cd9c:1 bs=1M count=1024 skip=1024     | gzip -c > /moa/olda-1024.gz

By the way - the command to create the ramdisk is supposed to create one that can grow upto 2gb - how much RAM does your host have ?

[carl78]

I will do it...

I have 216 GB RAM 🙂

[carl78]

continuum​ I was successful. But it is strange. There are 2 file - 55 MB and 1 GB. But when I did it via splitted files, the files had over 1,6 GB together.

Do you want to upload this or splitted files, please?

[continuum]

If you have both versions created - then upload both.

In theory any of them should work - but lets see ...

[carl78]

ok, no problem. Give me 2-3 hrs. I have only 256kbs upload 😞

[continuum]

Ok - no problem.

Please contact me via skype when the dumps are available ...

Ulli

[carl78]

Hello continuum​

there is link for first version: Dropbox - Olda_Last_Dump.7z - Simplify your life

second version is uploading now.

Olda

[continuum]

Hi

got good news for you.

Found 2 apparently complete VMs: one named SAP HANA (backup) and one named S4 I think ...

Other than that I found a bunch of unnamed vmdks in various sizes.

Call me so that we can discuss what exactly you need.

Ulli

skype: sanbarrow

[carl78]

Ulli, there is second version

Dropbox - Olda_Last_Dump2.7z - Simplify your life

[continuum]

Here is an overview of the next steps.

Next I would extract about 10 small 1 mb fragments to make sure I really found the  one you want.

Once we agree on the correct one you will them get a cmd-file to extract the required files.

If necessary that can be done within a  teamviewer - session.

[carl78]

OK, I agree. thank you

[carl78]

Ulli, Do you advice me how can extract fragments for you, please?

[continuum]

Hi

please have a look at the attached archive - it contains 3 directories.

Each of them has vmx-files and vmdk-descriptorfiles and other small files.

Please help ...

Go through it and try to eventually compare it with the results of the commercial tool.

I want you to prepare a list of the flat- and delta-vmdks you want me to extract.

If possible create screenshots of the scan that found your stuff - that will probably help to figure out which files we need.

Answere here or preferably send a skype - message ...

Ulli

[carl78]

Hello Ulli,

You wrote: "please have a look at the attached archive - it contains 3 directories." but You didnt attach any file.

[continuum]

Oh dear - sleep depivation strikes ....

Sorry - attaching now ...

[carl78]

Thats OK:-)

Ulli, I would try to recover this VM at this moment.

[continuum]

That flat vmdk is supposed to have a size of 68.35 GB.

Thats the same size as a hxesa-flat.vmdk

But now comes the strange part.

This flat.vmdks seems to start at an offset of about 192 TB   ..... - what ???

Whats the actual size of the datastore ?

Do you use brandnew ESXi 7 features that enables mega size datastores ???

Give me some background info about the datastore you here ...

Does Diskinternals really show this vmdk as recoverable ? - show a screenshot please.

Looks like I have to inspect this obscure vmfs-volume myself - is there a chance to either create a Linux VM on your ESXi host or ohysically boot that host into a Linux LiveCD ?

If yes - please download this iso:

https://sanbarrow,com/files/isohybrid-VMsickbay180404-032520-efi.iso

But before we go on - show me a screenshot of the tool that found this vmdk. !

Can you confirm that it found that 68.35 GB file ???

[carl78]

This flat.vmdks seems to start at an offset of about 192 TB   ..... - what ???

I would like to have 192 TB array :-)). My datastore has 3TB (2,794 TB)

I have ESXi version 6.5.

Does Diskinternals really show this vmdk as recoverable ? - show a screenshot please.

Diskinternals is still running. It is very slow

Can you confirm that it found that 68.35 GB file ???

yes, it agree