In modern vSphere environments, consider moving toward , VMFS with snapshots , or VVols – each offers different recovery capabilities. But regardless of the underlying technology, a well-documented recovery plan and regular drills are the true keys to minimizing downtime when disaster strikes. Last updated: 2025 – Compatible with vSphere 7.x and 8.x
From vSphere Client or CLI:
fsck.vmfs -D /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.xxxx If the VMFS partition is missing, recreate it manually without overwriting data: recovery vmware datastore
For VMFS6, use:
Introduction In any vSphere environment, the datastore is the fundamental storage container that holds virtual machines (VMs), ISO images, templates, and other critical files. When a datastore becomes inaccessible, corrupted, or suffers data loss, the impact is immediate and severe: VMs may fail to power on, storage vMotion operations halt, and in worst-case scenarios, production workloads are completely offline. In modern vSphere environments, consider moving toward ,
esxcli storage core adapter rescan --all
If metadata corruption is suspected, run: When a datastore becomes inaccessible, corrupted, or suffers
vmfs-fuse /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.xxxx /mnt/repair (This mounts read-only; you can copy data out.)