How to Restore VMDK to a Physical Drive

VMDK files represent virtual machines that are hosted and managed in a VMware Workstation or an ESXi server. That said, if anything should happen to the VMDK files on your hard drive, your VMware VMs won’t launch the next time you try to power them. Although VMDK files are saved on physical drives, there may be instances where you will want to restore a lost VMDK file to another physical drive – how do you do that?

How to Recover a VMDK File

Just like other file formats, VMDK files can get corrupted or might be mistakenly deleted by the PC user, either way, when such happens, you need to recover the VMDK file and save it to another physical storage.

Well, there are native VMware tools for VMDK repair and recovery, but these tools are not extensive, which is why you may have needs for third-party software. But, here’s how to use VMware’s built-in tools for VMDK recovery.

Common Issues with VMDK Files

VMDK files can become corrupted or inaccessible due to various reasons such as sudden power failures, hardware malfunctions, or software errors. Common issues include VMDK file corruption, missing VMDK descriptors, and failed disk consolidation.

Using VMware Tools for Recovery

VMware offers built-in tools for VMDK file recovery, such as VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, and vSphere. To use these tools, open the respective VMware application, locate the virtual machine with the problematic VMDK file, and attempt to repair or consolidate the disks. Additionally, you can use the `vmkfstools` command-line utility to check and repair VMDK files on VMware ESXi hosts.

Third-Party Recovery Tools

Several third-party recovery tools are available to recover VMDK files. Tool like DiskInternals VMFS Recovery can scan damaged VMware, recover VMDK files and recover lost data. It provides a user-friendly interface and advanced recovery options, making it suitable for users with varying levels of technical expertise.

Manual Recovery Techniques

Manual recovery techniques involve using command-line tools and hex editors to repair VMDK files. This can include editing the VMDK descriptor file, merging split VMDK files, or manually extracting data from the VMDK file. While these techniques can be effective, they require a high level of technical knowledge and are recommended for advanced users or IT professionals.

Converting VMDK to a Physical Format

Using VMware vCenter Converter

VMware vCenter Converter is a powerful tool that allows you to convert VMDK files to a physical format. Start by downloading and installing VMware vCenter Converter. Launch the application and select the option to convert a virtual machine. Follow the prompts to select your source VMDK file and the destination physical machine. The converter will handle the process of transferring the virtual disk contents to the physical drive, making it ready for use.

Using qemu-img to Convert VMDK

qemu-img is a versatile command-line tool used for converting disk image formats, including VMDK to physical formats. First, ensure you have qemu-img installed on your system. Open a command prompt or terminal and use the following command to convert the VMDK file:

qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O raw source.vmdk destination.img

Replace source.vmdk with the path to your VMDK file and destination.img with the desired output file name. After conversion, you can use a disk cloning tool like `dd` to write the raw image to a physical drive:

dd if=destination.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

Replace /dev/sdX with the appropriate device identifier for your physical drive. This process will transfer the contents of the VMDK file to the physical drive.

sudo dd if=source.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress

Configuring the Bootloader

Installing the Boot Sector

After writing the disk image to the physical drive, you may need to install a boot sector to ensure the system can boot properly. On Unix/Linux systems, you can use the grub-install command. Open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdX

Replace /mnt with the mount point of your target partition and /dev/sdX with the appropriate device identifier for your physical drive. This command installs the GRUB bootloader to the specified drive, enabling it to boot from the installed operating system.

Configuring the Bootloader (GRUB)

Once the boot sector is installed, configure the GRUB bootloader to ensure it points to the correct operating system and kernel. Begin by mounting the target partition and editing the grub.cfg file:

sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt
sudo nano /mnt/boot/grub/grub.cfg

In the grub.cfg file, ensure that the entries point to the correct partition and kernel. For example, a typical entry might look like this:

menuentry 'Ubuntu' {
    set root=(hd0,1)
    linux /boot/vmlinuz- root=/dev/sdX1 ro quiet splash
    initrd /boot/initrd.img-

Replace with the version of your kernel and /dev/sdX1 with the correct partition identifier. Save the changes and unmount the partition:

sudo umount /mnt

Reboot your system, and GRUB should now load the operating system from the physical drive. Adjust the configuration as needed to match your specific setup.

General Troubleshooting Tips

• Converting VMDK to a physical drive may lead to total loss of your virtual machine files and data.
• This is majorly an experimental practice, so you should ensure to make a full backup of your VM files and that of the physical hard drive to be cloned into a virtual drive.
• You can make a DOS install of Windows XP on the physical drive after the conversion.
• If you lose your files while trying this out, DiskInternals VMFS Recovery can help to recover the files.

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, there are many reasons IT experts try out different experiments, which include converting and cloning a virtual disk image to a physical hard drive.

Also, it is important to say that when you use a data recovery software to retrieve a lost VMDK file, the software will prompt you to save (restore) the retrieved VMDK file to another physical drive, and not the actual drive it was previously saved on.

To avoid losing your crucial files while trying all these advanced actions, always keep up with full backups.