Old Vmdk - what is it?

[ctcarp]

In perusing a San server I've found a a Vm that was stored. It's 10yo and Im hesitant to remove it at this point until I can tell whats inside it. Is there a tool that will allow me to open the vmdk and look at the directories and files? I saw Autopsy and VMware Data Recovery but wanted to see if VMware has a tool or if anyone knows of one? I just want to see the directories set up. The file is 20Gb. I looked in the logs and found the name of the server but that server is now 250Gb. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[continuum]

The easiest way to read an unknown - but apparently ESXi-compatible VMDK is to create a new VM, assign that VMDK and then boot it into a Linux LiveCD.
This will read probably all filesystems that may have been used within that VMDK.
If you also want to be able to look into partly corrupted filesystems use the UFS-explorer LiveCD.
Option B is to use a tool to mount vmdks - that approach is useful if you have the VMDK already copied to a Windows or Linux-host.
If you want to avoid that copy-job before you can even read the VMDK the LiveCD approach is your best option.

[HassanAlKak88]

Hello,

VMDK file is the virtual disk image file created by VMWare software. It stores all contents of a virtual disk. A Vmware virtual hard disk can be made up one or multiple VMDK files. To open VMDK file there is a lot of ways as below:

From VMware workstation:

• File
• Map virtual disks
• Map
• Browse
• Browse to the directory containing the files.
• Select the disk file
• [OK]

You can use Power ISO and explore all data files.

Also the easiest way as per my experience is to attach this vmdk file as secondary disk to any VM (Linux/Windows) and explore all entire data.

Please consider marking this answer "CORRECT" or "Helpful" if you think your question have been answered correctly.

Cheers,

VCIX6-NV|VCP-NV|VCP-DC|

@KakHassan

linkedin.com/in/hassanalkak