(works for single-file growable VMDK)
vmkfstools -x check /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/VM/VM-flat.vmdk recover data from corrupt vmdk
Create a new .vmdk descriptor pointing to the raw data file: (works for single-file growable VMDK) vmkfstools -x check
# Disk DescriptorFile version=1 CID=fffffffe parentCID=ffffffff createType="monolithicFlat" RW 8388608 VMFS "VM-flat.vmdk" The Disk Data Base ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic" ddb.geometry.cylinders = "522" ddb.geometry.heads = "255" ddb.geometry.sectors = "63" ddb.virtualHWVersion = "7" recover data from corrupt vmdk
Replace RW 8388608 with your actual sector count (sectors = size_in_bytes / 512).
7z l corrupt.vmdk # list contents 7z x corrupt.vmdk -orecovery # extract all files Limitation: Only works for simple VMDK formats (not split/extents).
vmkfstools -x repair /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/VM/VM-flat.vmdk If repair fails, clone the VMDK while forcing consistency checks: