Linux Vmfs Recovery May 2026

sudo vmfs-fuse -o ro,offset=1048576 /dev/sdX /mnt/recovery (Offset is byte offset; adjust based on partition start) If filesystem is beyond repair:

sudo vmfs6-fuse /dev/sdX3 /mnt/recovery -o ro Replace /dev/sdX3 with the actual partition (often partition 3 on a GPT disk). ls -la /mnt/recovery/ find /mnt/recovery -name "*.vmdk" If the mount fails, the VMFS metadata may be corrupt – proceed to low-level file carving (Section 6). 5. Recovering Virtual Machines Once mounted, each folder under /mnt/recovery/ corresponds to a VM or a folder. linux vmfs recovery

cp /mnt/recovery/my_vm/my_vm.vmdk /home/user/ cp /mnt/recovery/my_vm/my_vm.vmx /home/user/ vmfs-fuse automatically translates thin VMDKs to sparse files, but ensure enough destination space. 6. Handling Corrupted VMFS Metadata If vmfs-fuse fails, try: 6.1 Manual Partition Discovery parted /dev/sdX unit s print Locate the VMFS partition (type vmfs ). 6.2 Force Mount with Backup Superblock VMFS stores multiple superblock copies. Use vmfs-tools debug mode: Recovering Virtual Machines Once mounted, each folder under

sudo apt update sudo apt install vmfs-tools vmfs6-tools mdadm ddrescue 4.1 Identify the VMFS Volume First, attach the physical disk(s) or LUN to the Linux host. Handling Corrupted VMFS Metadata If vmfs-fuse fails, try: 6

cp -r /mnt/recovery/my_vm /home/user/recovery_folder/

lsblk fdisk -l /dev/sdX VMFS partition type is typically 0xFB (VMFS). For VMFS6, type 0xFC . If the datastore resides on a hardware RAID passed through as a single disk, skip. For software RAID (e.g., failed ESXi software RAID):

sudo vmfs-fuse /dev/sdX3 /mnt/recovery -o ro