Extract Data From VMDK File

Learn to Extract Data From VMDK File In Corrupt State

VMDK is the virtual disk file type generated by VMware application. The application creates this file for the machines having different servers. There are many other applications similar to VMware that are employed to generate a virtual environment. This segment shares details on how to extract data from VMDK file in varying conditions.

More about VMDK Files

VMware VMDK file is the exact virtual emulation of a real computer on Guest OS connected to it. IT sector is progressing more and more towards the consolidation of servers. Therefore, the awareness of being able to manage and administer virtual machines has become a necessity. The system requirement to have the right virtual environment includes; hard disk space, usable memory, and CPU. Either storage location of these virtual disk files can be the local machine or any host reachable remote location. The remote storage of virtual disks can be any of the following: ISCSI, Network Attached Storage, or a Storage Area Network that is attached to the host machine. There are two types of virtual disk files, which are Preallocated and Growable disk type.

In the former disk type, storage space of the virtual data is preallocated i.e., previously allocated. On the other hand, a growable disk keeps on increasing the storage according to the necessity. Size factor of a VMDK file is being discussed because it affects the state of the file.

Mount & Extract Data from an Oversized VMDK

Configuration of VMware disk is customizable thus; it is possible to setup the VMDK as an independent. Doing this adds up a layer of complexity and control to the VMware disk files. in addition to that, once the files are independent disk files they can be configured as Persistent disk or a Non-persistent one.

The changes made to the disk is simultaneously recorded and saved permanently in case of a Persistent disk. However, changes are meant to be lost in the case of Non-Persistent type of configuration, as soon as the host machine is turned off.

However, even in the case of a Persistent Disk the data stored can become unusable due to the ample reasons of corruption capable of affect the state of a VMDK file. These are:

• Snapshot files gone missing
• Log files deleted (accidently/purposely)
• Malware intrusion directly into the VMDK or associated files responsible for its working
• Deletion of OS files from a Guest Operating System

Mounting a VMDK file is easier and can be performed using a number of methods but only in cases where the file may be raw but is in a healthy state. However, in any of the above listed conditions, it is not possible to mount and extract data from VMDK file. The only possible method is to get a third party application involved and reuse the extracted data on the virtual environment.

VMware Recovery to Extract Data from VMDK File

This VMDK file recovery solution is capable of thoroughly scanning virtual machine disk files and recovering them from a corrupt state. This enables the tool to be able to extract data from VMDK file regardless of how badly it may be corrupted.

Some of the key features are:

• Corrupt, Formatted, Deleted VMDK file recovery served

• Preview of contents from the recovered VMDK file rendered
• The software imposes no limitation on the size of VMDK file
• Extraction of recovered data done at the original location

You can extract the contents of a VMDK file in just three steps :

  1. Scan and load the VMware disk files by manually browsing the file or scanning the machine 

      via a selected drive or all at once.

  2. Filter out the desired set of data as per your requirement.

3. Extract contents to machine by selecting the desired ones or performing a bulk extract.