how to recover data from corrupted delta vmdk due to input/output error

[achian]

Hello all,

I have a corrupted delta vmdk, trac_1-000001-delta.vmdk, that so far always returned input/output error when copied (it will always stop after 8 GB out 11 GB file as you can see the sizes of trac_1-000001-delta.vmdk.backup), or when I run "/usr/sbin/vmkfstools -i trac_1.000001.vmdk trac_1-recover.000001.vmdk".   So far, I am able to recover a complete, but dated version of the VM using trac-flat.vmdk and trac_1-flat.vmdk so the base files are good.  But I am wondering if there is any way for me to recover any data from the delta vmdk file, specifically, trac_1-000001-delta.vmdk.  Since it's a delta vmdk, I cannot just mount it directly.  I assume I'll have to use some sort of disk recovery tool to copy it to a "no-bad-sector" location first, but that's just my guess, and I have no idea on how to go about that.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thank you!

-rw-------    1 root     root          8684 Jul 14 16:07 centos-5.4-x86_64-server.nvram

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            13 Jul 15 11:36 trac-aux.xml

-rw-------    1 root     root     42949672960 Jul 15 11:36 trac-flat.vmdk

-rw-------    1 root     root           590 Jul 15 11:36 trac.vmdk

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            77 Jul 15 11:36 trac.vmsd

-rwx------    1 root     root          3218 Jul 15 11:39 trac.vmx

-rw-------    1 root     root          3365 Jul 14 16:07 trac.vmxf

-rw-------    1 root     root     12532666368 Jul 14 06:02 trac_1-000001-delta.vmdk

-rw-------    1 root     root     8557830144 Jul 14 16:44 trac_1-000001-delta.vmdk.backup

-rw-------    1 root     root           315 Jul 14 13:32 trac_1-000001.vmdk

-rw-------    1 root     root         86016 Jul 14 16:07 trac_1-000003-delta.vmdk

-rw-------    1 root     root           322 Jul 14 16:07 trac_1-000003.vmdk

-rw-------    1 root     root     42949672960 Jul 14 13:22 trac_1-flat.vmdk

-rw-------    1 root     root           592 Jul 14 13:17 trac_1.vmdk

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         47077 Jul 14 13:17 vmware-33.log

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         70046 Jul 14 13:25 vmware-34.log

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         50988 Jul 14 13:32 vmware-35.log

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         50611 Jul 14 13:37 vmware-36.log

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         50611 Jul 14 13:39 vmware-37.log

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         50611 Jul 14 16:16 vmware-38.log

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         48871 Jul 15 11:39 vmware.log

[npadmani]

try to reach out to data recovery specialist continuum(User)

[continuum]

Hi
recently I had a similar case - just with more snapshots - and was able to recover most of it.
Please avoid using that datastore before we discussed your case.
Ulli