Reattaching snapshot virtual disk, but after reattaching pre-snapshot disk to new VM

[ComradeComm]

So I find myself in a pickle, somewhat of my own making. 

I had a Windows Server file server VM go hard down at the OS-level and needed rebuilding. No biggie, rebuilt and reattached the drives, all data looks hunky-dory to me. Problem is, I had a snapshot of this VM and in my haste to get the important file server back up, I reattached the non-snapshot drives, and did not consolidate them beforehand. Now there are some folks wondering why all their files from the beginning of Feb are gone. 

I tried mounting the snapshot vmdk in a variety of methods, from directly to the VM, to building a VMWare Workstation VM to try attaching it to, but always get an internal error. 

So what is the best way to go about getting that data back? The dead VM still exists and hasn't been deleted yet, but I was worried that if I try consolidating it/deleting the snapshot, will this effect the vmdk currently attached to the new server in a negative way?

[continuum]

> No biggie, rebuilt and reattached the drives, all data looks hunky-dory to me. Problem is, I had a snapshot of this VM and in my haste to get the important file server back up, I reattached the non-snapshot drives, and did not consolidate them beforehand. 

What we need first of all is a precise description of:
- history of the VM
- current state of the VM

Please take some time and try to create a precise description - with as much details as possible.

Ulli

[ComradeComm]

The original VM was a 2012R2 Server. There was nothing wrong with the VM itself, but a broken update attempted to install from a higher source (this is a large-scale USG AD Domain) and the OS would no longer boot. The original VM is still in-place but offline. The attached drive in question is something along the lines of File_server_name_4-000001.vmdk.

The replacement VM is running Server 2019. The VM has the File_server_name_4.vmdk (that existed prior to the snapshot having been taken) attached to it. 

[continuum]

We need the descriptor-vmdks for
File_server_name_4-000001.vmdk and File_server_name_4.vmdk.
Also send the vmx-file - any vmware..logs you may still have and the vmsd-file.

This would be enough for a test - assuming we have heard about all involved files ...

Ulli