Common Failures

● The mounted VMware ESXi is rewritten, including system reloading, initialization and formatting

● Data loss for unknown reasons

● VMFS file structure is abnormal during file upgrade and change

● VMware ESXi storage files are accidentally deleted

●VMDK files cannot be mounted

● There is an error after backup via third-party software (e.g.: NetBackup) virtual machine

● Accidentally or intentionally deleted by virtual machines

Tips: 

Never rebuild Datastore, VMotion and RAID, because these actions will greatly increase the difficulty in data recovery. You should immediately cut off the power supply and contact data recovery engineer of the Company as soon as possible

Processing Method

In case of failure of VMware ESXi operating system caused by HDD problems, it normally will not result in data loss. Because most of the Datastore of virtual machines are on SAN Storage, if users really want to repair them together, they can observe the following steps to check whether the server HDD is normal with professional equipment. When the HDD is normal, one copy should be completely copied in the current state at the first time (every bit of the HDD should be completely copied through software, and this operation can only be performed when the device is free of hardware damage), and this step requires a Write Blocker to prevent data from being changed.If there is a hardware failure on the HDD, users should not try randomly, otherwise the state of the stored files will be changed, causing secondary damage. Since the failure of VMware ESXi is different, relatively minor failures can be resolved through partial repair instructions or VMware's official help, but backup should be made. The relatively complex failures should be left to a professional data recovery company to ensure the success rate of data recovery.

If the virtual machine is placed on the Datastore of SAN Storage independently, users can first find out if there is any backup. If there is no backup, users may need to restore the data. At this time, users should better ask us for help.

If the VM is accidentally deleted and there is no backup or snapshot, it is recommended to immediately cut off power and not write new data to the storage device.

Solutions

In case of any problems of ESXi, the virtual machine is basically the customer's important data. Whether or not there is an HDD problem, as long as the virtual machine is not the hard drive on the ESXi server, we can replace the server with a new HDD and reinstall ESXi, make relevant settings, and then mount the virtual machine to make the virtual machine work again. However, sometimes the customer's specific programs can only be opened normally by binding the information of the host computer and the HDD. At this time, we will inspect HDD on the server according to the customer's detailed description and through professional equipment. Commonly used professional devices include PC-3000, Data Compass, dust-free laboratory, microscope and oscilloscope. These professional devices and tools can help us accurately detect specific HDD failures without damaging the HDD. These professional equipment and tools can help us accurately check out the specific failure of HDD without harming the HDD. By using the corresponding technology to solve these failures, the original data on the HDD can be normally extracted and restored to the data needed by the customer through analysis and reorganization. If the system files can be recovered in a neat way, the complete system can be restored, and then the information of the new HDD can be made the same as that of the failed HDD with the corresponding technology. If the system files are damaged, it is necessary to understand the damage of the file structure, each node, directory area and data area so as to formulate the corresponding scheme to carry out data reorganization and achieve the purpose of data recovery.