PROFESSIONAL DATA RECOVERYCase informationDevice symptoms and required data are recorded.
VMWARE / VIRTUALISATION
Virtual Machine Recovery.
Virtual recovery may involve storage reconstruction, VMFS analysis, snapshot-chain work or guest-filesystem recovery. The applicable route depends on the affected layer and the actual findings.
Protect the source mediaStop creating snapshots, consolidating disks or reformatting datastores. Preserve the storage and export logs before making changes to inventory or extents.
Local-office assessmentThe current recovery level is based on case findings.
Approval checkpointA higher recovery level requires revised scope and pricing approval.
Priority decisionUrgency can be stated; priority is decided by the local office.
Failure signals
Recognise the warning. Avoid the second failure.
A recovery case often becomes harder after an automatic repair, rebuild or repeated restart. These symptoms mean the source should be preserved before the next decision.
Datastore missing
VMFS volumes disappear, report zero capacity or no longer mount across hosts.
VMDK or snapshot errors
Descriptor, extent, delta or snapshot-chain files are missing or inconsistent.
Deleted virtual machine
VM folders, disks or datastore content were removed, formatted or overwritten.
Guest corruption
The VM registers or boots, but the guest filesystem, database or application data is damaged.
Recovery capability
A workflow matched to the failure layer.
The applicable technical route is confirmed from the device findings and customer requirements.
VIRT.01Datastore reconstruction
Datastore reconstruction may form part of the technical route when supported by the device findings and recovery level.
VIRT.02Snapshot-chain analysis
Snapshot-chain analysis may form part of the technical route when supported by the device findings and recovery level.
VIRT.03Guest-level validation
Guest-level validation may form part of the technical route when supported by the device findings and recovery level.
Case workflow
Four checkpoints from enquiry to return planning.
Record the incident
Device, symptoms, business impact and required data are recorded.
Confirm current level
The local office assesses the findings and identifies the current recovery level.
Review scope and pricing
The applicable level, scope and quotation are provided for approval. Changes to a higher level require revised approval.
Confirm customer requirements
Customer data priorities and return-device requirements are confirmed for the case.
Helpful intake details
Bring the evidence that reduces guesswork.
- Hypervisor and datastore versions
- Storage topology and RAID/SAN details
- VM names, VMDK layout and snapshot history
- Host logs and every action taken since failure
Incident protocolDo not consolidate an unknown snapshot chain.
Consolidation and storage migration can write heavily to source extents. Preserve datastore evidence before attempting inventory or snapshot repair.
Request Technical AssessmentTechnical questions
Before you power it on again.
Every incident is different. These answers explain the safest general starting point.
Can a deleted VMware virtual machine be recovered?
Possibly, depending on subsequent datastore writes, VMFS metadata, thin-provisioning behaviour and the condition of the underlying storage.
Can you repair a broken snapshot chain?
Snapshot relationships can often be reconstructed when the required base and delta extents remain available. Never delete or consolidate snapshots before evaluation.
Do you recover Hyper-V virtual disks too?
Virtual disk and guest recovery principles also apply to VHD/VHDX and other platforms, although the metadata and snapshot structures differ.
Will the recovered VM boot immediately?
Not necessarily. A valid virtual disk can still contain guest-level corruption. Important files, databases and services must be checked separately.
Start with the evidence
Tell us what failed and what matters most.
Submit the symptoms, device details, business impact and the data you need. The relevant local office confirms the current recovery level and next step.