VMFS Recovery for Virtual Machines

What is Virtual Machine Recovery?

Virtual Machines are software implementations of computer systems through hardware, software or a combination of both. They can either pose as a complete operating (OS) system as a system virtual machine or as a single program as a process virtual machine. The advantages of a virtual machine are that they can have multiple OS environments run on the same drive and allow virtual file sharing and that they have inherent data recovery for most cases. The disadvantage is that when drives run concurrently in the system, there is a possibility of unstable performance.

Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) is the typical file format that is used as the hard disk of a virtual machine. Another open source file format option developed by VMware, is a VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk) to contain virtual hard disk drives.

What to When Your Virtual Machine Fails

Similar to SAN and NAS models, virtual machines have complex data storage structures. Because of this, when a data loss occurs on the virtual machine, it is very important to contact a professional data recovery company that specializes in VMware recovery and other virtualized systems immediately.

Stop using the host server data store as soon as you notice a problem with your VMFS. Continuing to use the machine could cause other virtual disks to overwrite original lost data. This complicates recovery. It is highly recommended you call a Virtual Machine Recovery expert to get help with your VMFS. Call DataTech Labs to discuss what steps could be taken.