Best VMware Data Recovery Software to Recover Data from VMDK File

The blog demonstrates all about the VMware Data Recovery solution to recover data from VMware .vmdk file when the virtual machine disk (VMDK) file does not open in VMware. It also describes  MDK files and the ways to successfully recover data from VMDK files without the installation of VMware.

Overview – About VMware Data Recovery

A virtual machine is simply an imitation of the computer system. It can provide all the functions and features that can be accessed on a physical computer system. Generally, virtual machines come into play when a user wants to work on different operating systems on top of another OS. At present, virtual machines like VMware are widely used for experiencing other systems, testing new applications and other various purposes.

VMware is a well-known software company in the field of VirtualBox and cloud computing. VMware Virtualbox allows a user to run multiple Operating systems and applications on the single physical server as the Virtual machine. It saves entire data of Virtual machine hard disk drive in VMDK file format.

Why we need VMware data recovery

Earlier, we have discussed that VMware stores its data in VMDK file format. These VMDK files are prone to corruption and get corrupted due to some of the reasons like physical hard drive problem, Software, and Hardware issues etc. So, it is necessary to recover data from the corrupted VMDK files by performing VMware data recovery for flawless use of VMware Workstation.

Manual methods for VMDK File recovery

It is necessary to perform recovery of VMDK files when they are inaccessible or there is some issue with data integrity. Basically, a VMDK or a number of VMDK files is consists of two types of files:

• VMDK
• *-flat.vmdk

VMDK plays as a plain text pointer for the *-flat.vmdk where * denoted as the VM Server’s name. As I have already discussed that .vmdk files are prone to corruption. So, if due to some sorts of conditions, your VMDK files have become inaccessible to you or have been corrupted leading to crash of VMware while starting. You can simply follow the below steps to manually repair the corrupted VMDK files.

Method 1:

• Firstly, a backup copy of the original VMDK that is the pointer file should be created.
• Now, go ahead by making a copy of the point file from a different VM to your system.
• Make modifications and changes to the fields accordingly.
• After that, boot your Virtual Machine.

Method 2:

• Open the command line (cmd.exe)
• Go to the local installation of your VMware Development kit by navigating through C:\Program Files\VMWare\Virtual Disk Development Kit\bin.

Type the command VMware-vdiskmanager.exe –R “the fully qualified path to your corrupt VMDK” and press Enter.

Procedure for VMware Data Recovery

Follow the below simple steps to successfully recover data from VMDK files using a VMware data recovery software.

1. Launch and run VMDK Recovery software on your system. Select the disk type and other options accordingly.
2. Browse the corrupted VMDK file that you want to recover by simply clicking on browse button if you know the location of the file. If you don’t know, click on the search button.
3. Now, select the scanning mode: Standard or Advanced. Check whether partition table is defined in GPT and check other options also.
4. Select the volume in the list from which you want to recover data. Also, check the Custom Settings for selected volume box to define the custom settings for selected volume recovery.
5. Now, select the recovery mode and enter the maximum file systems if you select the Advanced mode.
6. In a few seconds, searching will be completed and you’ll get to know the VMDK files in the list.
7. Click on the files and folders that you want to preview and select the data that you want to save and click on save.
8. In no time, the saving process will be completed. Click OK  and exit the application.

Some benefits of VMware Data Recovery

Using a VMware VMDK data recovery software, we can efficiently repair and recover the VMDK files which store entire data of VMware VirtualBox. Here are some of the advanced features of the VMware data recovery software that makes it one of the most authentic and reliable sources for VMware recovery.

• Recovers maximum possible data from corrupt VMDK files in an efficient manner.
• Supports split, SPARSE, & FLAT as well as descriptor VMDK files.
• Supports VMDK files which are saved in the Fixed disk and Dynamic disk types.
• For a selected volume, Custom settings option is enabled before recovery.
• Featured with two scanning modes i.e. Standard and Advanced, depending on levels of corruption.
• Supports both types of partition tables i.e. Master Boot Record (MBR) & GUID Partition Table (GPT)
• Strongly supportive to all the file systems of popular OS such as FAT, FAT16, FAT32, FAT64, HFS+, NTFS and EXTX.
• Provided with three different recovery modes: Standard, Advanced, and Deep as per the severity of corruption.
• Enables users to preview recovered files and folders; shown in a tree-structure view.
• Interactive GUI so that users do not feel difficulty in using the application.

Verdict

In the blog, all about the virtual machines and VMware have been explained in detail. Also, it has been discussed that how difficult is to recover data from corrupt VMDK files using manual methods. So, the verdict comes out to be that if you are not technically sound and do not know the reasons for VMDK file corruption, the manual method is not your cup of tea. Using VMware VMDK Recovery Software is the only solution that is feasible in such a case. It will assist you at every step while performing recovery and proves to be an authentic and reliable solution for VMware data recovery. Hope it helps.

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