{"id":60991,"date":"2026-08-31T13:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/?p=60991"},"modified":"2026-08-31T13:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:10:14","slug":"virtual-machine-data-recovery-5-proven-methods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: 5 Proven Methods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Did you lose data inside a virtual machine, or its own files? Our data recovery specialists have tested all virtual machine data recovery methods that can save files \u201ctrapped\u201d inside a virtual machine, or restore its own files to render it usable again. This article presents their findings as friendly, step-by-step guides, with extra information where necessary, to provide you with the best solutions for both scenarios.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-info\" role=\"alert\">For simplicity\u2019s sake, in this guide we use Windows 11 as both the host and the virtualized operating system. You can follow along on all recent versions of Windows, whether on a physical or virtual machine. However, you\u2019ll have to tweak some steps for other OSes, like macOS or Linux, while some might be unavailable.<\/div>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"can_you_recover_data_from_a_virtual_machine\"><\/span>Can You Recover Data From a Virtual Machine?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>You can recover data from a virtual machine, but choosing the best virtual data recovery method depends on what was lost or damaged:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>&#x1fa86; Was your data lost <b>inside a virtual machine<\/b> that used \u201csolid\u201d files with a pre-allocated size for storage? You must stop using it to maximize your chances of recovering your files, but you can keep using the host OS as usual.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x274c; Were one or more of <b>the virtual machine\u2019s own files<\/b> deleted, lost, missing, or corrupted, rendering it unusable, or was it configured to use split\/segmented storage files? Were its files stored on one of the host\u2019s drives that got damaged? Then, try to minimize use of the host OS and avoid writing new data to the drive where the virtual machine\u2019s files were stored. Otherwise, the deleted data could get overwritten.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>If you need to recover a virtual machine\u2019s own files, usually their virtual storage devices will be stored in one of the following file formats:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Broadcom\u2019s VMware products typically use their own VMDK format for their storage (read more about it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quora.com\/What-are-VMDK-files-and-can-I-delete-them\">at this Quora post<\/a>).<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Microsoft\u2019s Hyper-V virtualization usually stores data <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/previous-versions\/windows\/it-pro\/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012\/hh831446(v=ws.11)\">in VHD\/VHDX files<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Oracle\u2019s VirtualBox virtualization software prefers <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.oracle.com\/en\/virtualization\/virtualbox\/6.0\/user\/vdidetails.html\">its own VDI container format<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-success\" role=\"alert\">Almost all virtualization solutions support multiple formats, <b>including<\/b> the ones above, which are considered industry standards. For virtual disk recovery, when unsure about the virtual disk\u2019s format, it\u2019s best to seek <b>all of them<\/b>. Also check your virtualization solution\u2019s documentation for additional types of files you might also have to recover, where a virtual machine\u2019s profile, configuration, state, etc. might be stored.<\/div>\r\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"common_virtual_machine_data_loss_scenarios\"><\/span>Common Virtual Machine Data Loss Scenarios<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>Virtualization data recovery can get complicated, because data loss\u2026:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f9e9; \u2026can happen either inside a guest OS and its virtual disks, or outside it, on the host\u2019s drive where the virtual machine is stored.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f9e8; \u2026may manifest in various ways, due to various causes.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Our data recovery experts\u2019 findings helped us craft the following quick diagnostic table to help you find the correct recovery method for your symptoms and potential cause.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"table_wrapper table_heading\"><p><\/p>\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Data loss scenario<\/td>\r\n<td>Potential cause<\/td>\r\n<td>Prioritized solution<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Files missing from working VM<\/td>\r\n<td>Files were deleted, the guest OS\u2019s Trash\/Recycle Bin was emptied, or data was removed from a shared folder.<\/td>\r\n<td>Recover the deleted files directly on the guest OS from inside or, even better, outside the VM.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Unusable VM with existing storage file<\/td>\r\n<td>Data crucial for the VM\u2019s operation (like OS files, its virtual disk\u2019s bootloader, or one or more partitions) is missing, corrupted, or damaged.<\/td>\r\n<td>Mount the VM\u2019s virtual disk on the host OS and copy the data from it to another storage device.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Files missing from unusable VM\u2019s storage file<\/td>\r\n<td>Although the VM\u2019s virtual disk can be mounted and accessed, files were deleted and unavailable, partitions damaged, or its file system corrupted.<\/td>\r\n<td>Recover files from the virtual disk with data recovery software.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Unusable VM without storage file<\/td>\r\n<td>The VM\u2019s folder is missing (potentially deleted or moved), a datastore failed, or the host drive where it was stored was formatted.<\/td>\r\n<td>Recover the deleted\/missing virtual disk from the host drive with a data recovery app.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Data loss with available backups\/clones\/snapshots<\/td>\r\n<td>Despite losing data inside a VM or its own files, the VM was backed-up, cloned, exported, protected by a hypervisor\/NAS\/cloud backup, or there are available snapshots of its previous states.<\/td>\r\n<td>Restore the Virtual Machine\/its contents from a backup, cloned\/exported version, or revert to older snapshot.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Host storage issues<\/td>\r\n<td>The VM\u2019s files were stored on a failing HDD\/SSD\/NVMe, external drive, RAID, NAS, or datastore.<\/td>\r\n<td>Clone the problematic drive to a byte-to-byte image, and use recovery software on that to save the VM\u2019s files.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<p><\/div>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_to_perform_virtual_machine_recovery\"><\/span>How to Perform Virtual Machine Recovery<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>Even when you know the ideal path for your data loss scenario, the actual steps for virtual machine recovery can be convoluted and confusing. Not, though, if you follow the guides below, where we will go over specific recovery steps and provide all necessary additional details for the five VM data recovery methods that cover most bases.<\/p>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_1_recover_files_from_a_virtual_disk_with_data_recovery_software\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 1:<\/span> <span id=\"method1\">Recover Files From a Virtual Disk With Data Recovery Software<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>Did your files inside a virtual machine go missing, are inaccessible, were affected by file system\/partition damage, or were accidentally deleted?<\/p>\r\n<p><b>Don\u2019t<\/b> install a data recovery app <b>in<\/b> the virtual machine; That would cause more write operations to its virtualized storage, potentially overwriting the files you want to recover. Instead, perform data recovery from <b>outside<\/b> the virtual machine to keep its virtual storage (and all files on it) intact. For that, you need a modern data recovery solution that, in addition to physical storage devices, can also work with virtual disk images.<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"\/data-recovery-software.html\">Disk Drill<\/a> is such an app, supporting a ton of the most popular disk storage formats, virtualized or not, including VMDK, DSK, BIN, DAT, RAW, DD, DMG, IMG, ISO, VHD, and VHDX.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-warning\" role=\"alert\">We must emphasize that this case concerns data loss within the virtual machine, while its files remain accessible and the machine remains operational. Losing one or more of the virtual machine\u2019s files, rendering it unusable and everything in it inaccessible, is a whole different scenario that we\u2019re covering in a different section.<\/div>\r\n<p><b>To recover files from your virtual machine\u2019s storage without having to power it on using Disk Drill:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li><b>Don\u2019t power on<\/b> your virtual machine. <a href=\"\/download.html\">Download Disk Drill from its official site<\/a> <b>directly on your host OS<\/b>, where you\u2019re also running the virtual machine\u2019s virtualization software. <b>Install it<\/b>, and <b>run it<\/b>. While on the app\u2019s <b>Storage Devices<\/b> page, click <b>Attach disk image<\/b> on the bottom left of the <b>Device\/Disk<\/b> list.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61003\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Attach-Disk-Image-Option.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Attach Disk Image Option\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Attach-Disk-Image-Option.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Attach-Disk-Image-Option-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Attach-Disk-Image-Option-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Attach-Disk-Image-Option-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Point the file requester to <b>the file of your virtual machine\u2019s disk<\/b> from which you want to recover files. Note that your virtual machine could have been using <b>more than one<\/b> virtual disk, and they could even be stored on <b>different paths<\/b>, or with a <b>mix of file types<\/b> (like both VMDK and VHD on the same virtual machine when dealing with VMWare file recovery). If you don\u2019t know the virtual disk\u2019s file type and where to find it, <b>check your virtual machine\u2019s storage configuration<\/b> in the virtualization app you were using.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61004\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selecting-VMDK-Image-To-Attach.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Selecting VMDK Image To Attach\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selecting-VMDK-Image-To-Attach.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selecting-VMDK-Image-To-Attach-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selecting-VMDK-Image-To-Attach-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selecting-VMDK-Image-To-Attach-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>After the app attaches the virtual disk image you selected, you\u2019ll see the storage device within it <b>appear<\/b> in Disk Drill\u2019s <b>Device\/Disk<\/b> list (1). <b>Click it<\/b>, then click <b>Search for lost data<\/b>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61005\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Attached-Image-and-Search-For-Lost-Data.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Select Attached Image and Search For Lost Data\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Attached-Image-and-Search-For-Lost-Data.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Attached-Image-and-Search-For-Lost-Data-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Attached-Image-and-Search-For-Lost-Data-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Attached-Image-and-Search-For-Lost-Data-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Allow Disk Drill\u2019s scan to complete to find as many files as possible. Its duration depends primarily on the host PC\u2019s storage speed and capacity, and the CPU\u2019s performance.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61006\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scanning-Attached-Image.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Scanning Attached Image\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scanning-Attached-Image.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scanning-Attached-Image-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scanning-Attached-Image-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scanning-Attached-Image-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>When the scan completes, Disk Drill will show a pop-up stating \u201c<b>All recovery methods (are) complete<\/b>\u201d (1). You can safely close this and click <b>Review found items<\/b> (2) to see what the app found.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61007\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scan-Completed-Successfully.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Scan Completed Successfully\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scan-Completed-Successfully.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scan-Completed-Successfully-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scan-Completed-Successfully-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Scan-Completed-Successfully-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Disk Drill\u2019s results presentation is accompanied by two groups of <b>Categories<\/b> (1) and <b>Filters<\/b> (2) you can use to make sense of all the files it located, based on characteristics like their file type, size, and more.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61008\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Categories-And-Filters.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Results Categories And Filters\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Categories-And-Filters.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Categories-And-Filters-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Categories-And-Filters-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Categories-And-Filters-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>If it\u2019s not already visible on the right, <b>enable<\/b> Disk Drill\u2019s <b>Preview Pane<\/b> by pointing at a file and clicking on the <b>eye icon<\/b>, or by right-clicking on it and choosing <b>Preview<\/b>. The app can natively preview many file types, from TXTs to JPGs, as well as those for which viewers are installed on the OS. A preview helps you select the correct files for recovery, but also acts as a preliminary test of their \u201crecoverability\u201d, since it hints at their contents being intact. Disk Drill offers an additional recoverability indicator for each file, in the <b>Recovery chances<\/b> column.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61009\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Preview-Option-and-Panel.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Results Preview Option and Panel\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Preview-Option-and-Panel.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Preview-Option-and-Panel-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Preview-Option-and-Panel-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Results-Preview-Option-and-Panel-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>When you\u2019ve found the files you want to get back, mark them for recovery by <b>placing a check mark on their left<\/b>. When you\u2019re happy with your selection, click <b>Recover<\/b>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61010\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Mark-Files-For-Recovery-and-Recover-Button.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Mark Files For Recovery and Recover Button\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Mark-Files-For-Recovery-and-Recover-Button.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Mark-Files-For-Recovery-and-Recover-Button-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Mark-Files-For-Recovery-and-Recover-Button-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Mark-Files-For-Recovery-and-Recover-Button-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Choose where<\/b> you\u2019d like to store the recovered files. If the path you want isn\u2019t among those the app \u201cremembers\u201d from past recovery runs (1), select it by clicking <b>Choose destination<\/b> (2). When done, click <b>Next<\/b>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61011\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Choose-Recovery-Destination-Folder.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Choose Recovery Destination Folder\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Choose-Recovery-Destination-Folder.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Choose-Recovery-Destination-Folder-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Choose-Recovery-Destination-Folder-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Choose-Recovery-Destination-Folder-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>After a while, Disk Drill will report that \u201c<b>Data recovery (is) complete<\/b>\u201d, with a few additional details about the recovery. Click <b>Show recovered data in Explorer<\/b> to insta-find and check the recovered files using the host OS\u2019s default file manager.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61012\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Data-Recovery-Complete-Show-Recovered-Data-In-Explorer.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Data Recovery Complete Show Recovered Data In Explorer\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Data-Recovery-Complete-Show-Recovered-Data-In-Explorer.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Data-Recovery-Complete-Show-Recovered-Data-In-Explorer-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Data-Recovery-Complete-Show-Recovered-Data-In-Explorer-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Data-Recovery-Complete-Show-Recovered-Data-In-Explorer-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Verify<\/b> that all files were recovered correctly before proceeding with any drastic moves, such as deleting and re-creating your virtual machine (and all its virtual drives).<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61013\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Recovered-Files-In-Folder-and-Open-Recovered-Cat-Photo.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Recovered Files In Folder and Open Recovered Cat Photo\" width=\"1389\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Recovered-Files-In-Folder-and-Open-Recovered-Cat-Photo.jpg 1389w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Recovered-Files-In-Folder-and-Open-Recovered-Cat-Photo-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Recovered-Files-In-Folder-and-Open-Recovered-Cat-Photo-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Recovered-Files-In-Folder-and-Open-Recovered-Cat-Photo-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1389px) 100vw, 1389px\" \/><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-success\" role=\"alert\">The <b>only<\/b> limitation of Disk Drill\u2019s free version is a 100MB recovery size limit. Thus, you can use it to both test file integrity, <b>and<\/b> find and restore your most critical documents.<\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_2_mount_the_virtual_disk_and_copy_the_data_manually\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 2:<\/span>  Mount the Virtual Disk and Copy the Data Manually<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>Is your virtual machine unbootable, freezing, or generally \u201cacting up\u201d, but its virtual disks are intact? You can perform VHD data recovery \u201cfrom outside\u201d the virtual machine, working directly in the host OS with no third-party tools.<\/p>\r\n<p>The catch is that this method only works with existing, visible, and normally accessible files within a healthy VHD\/VHDX image. For deleted\/missing files, or when dealing with issues like formatted partitions or corrupted file systems within the virtual disk image, stick with <a href=\"#method1\">the first method<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-info\" role=\"alert\">For increased safety, never work directly with the original virtual disk image. Always mount a copy, ignoring any Windows prompts to initialize or format it, and make sure all additional snapshot\/delta files accompany it.<\/div>\r\n<p>Windows can directly mount VHD and VHDX files and access their contents like any storage device, but that functionality is hidden in the administrative Disk Management tool.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>To mount your VHD\/VHDX image as a storage device with Disk Management, and access its contents with Windows File Explorer:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>Press <kbd>Windows Key<\/kbd> + <kbd>X<\/kbd> to access Windows\u2019 quick access menu of administrative tools, and click <b>Disk Management<\/b>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61015\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Menu-Entry.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Management Menu Entry\" width=\"1171\" height=\"665\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Menu-Entry.jpg 1171w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Menu-Entry-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Menu-Entry-500x284.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Menu-Entry-768x436.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1171px) 100vw, 1171px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Click the <b>Action<\/b> menu option to expand it, and choose <b>Attach VHD<\/b>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61016\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Action-Menu-Attach-VHD.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Management Action Menu Attach VHD\" width=\"1244\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Action-Menu-Attach-VHD.jpg 1244w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Action-Menu-Attach-VHD-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Action-Menu-Attach-VHD-500x266.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Action-Menu-Attach-VHD-768x409.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1244px) 100vw, 1244px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Click the <b>Browse<\/b> button in the Attach Virtual Hard Disk dialog to select the VHD\/VHDX disk image that you want to mount.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61017\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Browse-Button.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Management Attach Virtual Hard Disk Dialog Browse Button\" width=\"1244\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Browse-Button.jpg 1244w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Browse-Button-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Browse-Button-500x266.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Browse-Button-768x409.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1244px) 100vw, 1244px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Select your VHD\/VHDX disk image through the requester, and you\u2019ll see its full path in the <b>Location<\/b> textarea of the dialog. To eliminate any chance of newly-written data overwriting the files you want to get back, enable the <b>Read-only<\/b> flag directly underneath it. Then, click <b>OK<\/b> to attach the selected disk image.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61018\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Read-Only-Toggle-and-OK.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Management Attach Virtual Hard Disk Dialog Read Only Toggle and OK\" width=\"1244\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Read-Only-Toggle-and-OK.jpg 1244w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Read-Only-Toggle-and-OK-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Read-Only-Toggle-and-OK-500x266.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-Attach-Virtual-Hard-Disk-Dialog-Read-Only-Toggle-and-OK-768x409.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1244px) 100vw, 1244px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Any attached storage, including disk images, remains inaccessible without a drive letter. If Windows doesn\u2019t mount your image by auto-assigning a letter, <b>right-click<\/b> a partition, choose <b>Change Drive Letter and Paths<\/b>, then select the letter you want. Repeat for each partition if your image has more than one and you want to mount all of them. Avoid selecting letters that are already mapped to other storage devices or network paths.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61019\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-VHD-Image-Mounted.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Management VHD Image Mounted\" width=\"1244\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-VHD-Image-Mounted.jpg 1244w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-VHD-Image-Mounted-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-VHD-Image-Mounted-500x266.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Management-VHD-Image-Mounted-768x409.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1244px) 100vw, 1244px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>With your disk image mounted, it should be accessible through a letter in any file manager such as Windows File Explorer, like your other storage devices. Use such an app as your virtual data recovery tool to find the files you want and copy them from your mounted disk image to a safe location outside it.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61020\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Windows-Explorer-and-IrfanView-Accessing-VHD-Image-Contents.jpg\" alt=\"Windows Explorer and IrfanView Accessing VHD Image Contents\" width=\"1244\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Windows-Explorer-and-IrfanView-Accessing-VHD-Image-Contents.jpg 1244w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Windows-Explorer-and-IrfanView-Accessing-VHD-Image-Contents-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Windows-Explorer-and-IrfanView-Accessing-VHD-Image-Contents-500x266.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Windows-Explorer-and-IrfanView-Accessing-VHD-Image-Contents-768x409.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1244px) 100vw, 1244px\" \/><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-warning\" role=\"alert\">You can mount and use encrypted virtual machine disks, as long as you have their decryption password\/recovery key.<\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_3_recover_deleted_files_from_inside_the_guest_os\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 3:<\/span>  Recover Deleted Files From Inside the Guest OS<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>Does your virtual machine and its guest OS work perfectly fine, but\u2026<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f4be; \u2026you\u2019ve accidentally deleted some files.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f5d1;&#xfe0f; \u2026you\u2019ve absentmindedly emptied the Recycle Bin\/Trash folder.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f9fc; \u2026an app\u2019s automatic file consolidation\/cleanup processes removed some files you\u2019d prefer to keep.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Then, you can treat your virtual machine just like you would your actual PC, and follow an almost identical approach for your virtual data recovery.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>To locate and recover files lost in your virtual machine from within it:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>Start by checking if your files are still inside the Recycle Bin\/Trash. <b>Double-click<\/b> its icon on the desktop to check its contents with the default file manager. If the files you want to recover are still there, right-click on them and choose <b>Restore<\/b>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61022\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Recycle-Bin.jpg\" alt=\"Guest OS Recycle Bin\" width=\"1281\" height=\"661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Recycle-Bin.jpg 1281w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Recycle-Bin-300x155.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Recycle-Bin-500x258.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Recycle-Bin-768x396.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1281px) 100vw, 1281px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>If you remember any part of the <b>lost files\u2019 names<\/b>, you can use it with <b>Windows File Explorer\u2019s search<\/b> functionality to try to locate them (1). To find as many files as possible, start the search on your virtual drive\u2019s <b>root folder<\/b>, and change the <b>Search options<\/b> (that show up on Windows File Explorer\u2019s toolbar when a search is active) to look into <b>All subfolders<\/b> (2).<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61023\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Windows-File-Explorer-Search.jpg\" alt=\"Guest OS Windows File Explorer Search\" width=\"1201\" height=\"648\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Windows-File-Explorer-Search.jpg 1201w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Windows-File-Explorer-Search-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Windows-File-Explorer-Search-500x270.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Windows-File-Explorer-Search-768x414.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1201px) 100vw, 1201px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>A data recovery app like Disk Drill remains the best way to find and recover your lost files. You can follow the same approach we saw in our first method, but instead of attaching the virtual machine\u2019s storage to Disk Drill, install the app <b>inside<\/b> the virtual machine, and use it to scan its virtual disk.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61024\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Disk-Drill.jpg\" alt=\"Guest OS Disk Drill\" width=\"1363\" height=\"766\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Disk-Drill.jpg 1363w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Disk-Drill-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Disk-Drill-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Guest-OS-Disk-Drill-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1363px) 100vw, 1363px\" \/><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_4_restore_the_virtual_machine_from_a_backup_or_snapshot\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 4:<\/span>  Restore the Virtual Machine From a Backup or Snapshot<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>Do you have VMware <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vmware.com\/docs\/vsphere-vm-snapshots-perf\">snapshots<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows-server\/virtualization\/hyper-v\/checkpoints\">Hyper-V checkpoints<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.oracle.com\/en\/virtualization\/virtualbox\/6.0\/user\/cloningvdis.html\">cloned VirtualBox disk images<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Open_Virtualization_Format\">OVF (Open Virtualization Format)<\/a> exports? Had you included the virtual machine\u2019s files in Windows Backup or File History plans, cloned the host\u2019s drive to a disk image, or copied the virtual machine\u2019s folder to a NAS?<\/p>\r\n<p>If so, you can restore your virtual machine from those backups. This approach, though, comes with the following constraints:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f5c3;&#xfe0f; Requires <b>pre-existing backups<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x231b; <b>Doesn\u2019t work \u201cretroactively\u201d<\/b>, and can only recover data included in those backups.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f47d; It might not help in more <b>fringe cases<\/b> where, for example, you only have saved states that don\u2019t back up everything in the virtual machine\u2019s storage devices, while dealing with a damaged file system in the guest OS.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>If any of those apply to the issue you\u2019re facing, skip this section and <a href=\"#method1\">use a data recovery app instead<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-warning\" role=\"alert\">Reverting any data (or a whole virtual machine) to a previous state overwrites the current state, potentially beyond recovery. To avoid further data loss, first clone your virtual machine\u2019s folder to a safe storage location before trying to modify it.<\/div>\r\n<p>The approach you can take depends on the type of backup you have available. For example, in VMware Workstation Pro with available snapshots, VMDK file recovery can be as simple as selecting <b>VM<\/b> &gt; <b>Snapshot<\/b> &gt; <b>Revert to Snapshot: Snapshot X<\/b> from the app&#8217;s menu (where \u201cX\u201d is the snapshot number).<\/p>\r\n<p><img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61029\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VMWare-Workstation-VM-Snapshot-Revert-to-Snapshot.jpg\" alt=\"VMWare Workstation VM Snapshot Revert to Snapshot\" width=\"873\" height=\"592\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VMWare-Workstation-VM-Snapshot-Revert-to-Snapshot.jpg 873w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VMWare-Workstation-VM-Snapshot-Revert-to-Snapshot-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VMWare-Workstation-VM-Snapshot-Revert-to-Snapshot-500x339.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VMWare-Workstation-VM-Snapshot-Revert-to-Snapshot-768x521.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 873px) 100vw, 873px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>However, typical backups, like those kept by Windows File History, work \u201cglobally\u201d across all virtualization solutions, as long as a virtual machine\u2019s folders and files are included in those backups.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>For<\/b> <b>virtualization data recovery<\/b> <b>using Windows\u2019 File History:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>Use <b>Windows File Explorer<\/b> to <b>find the folder<\/b> where your virtual machine\u2019s files are stored.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61025\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-in-Windows-File-Explorer.jpg\" alt=\"VM Folder in Windows File Explorer\" width=\"1177\" height=\"648\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-in-Windows-File-Explorer.jpg 1177w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-in-Windows-File-Explorer-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-in-Windows-File-Explorer-500x275.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-in-Windows-File-Explorer-768x423.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1177px) 100vw, 1177px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Right-click<\/b> on the folder, and choose <b>Properties<\/b>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61026\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Menu-Entry-in-Windows-File-Explorer.jpg\" alt=\"VM Folder Properties Menu Entry in Windows File Explorer\" width=\"1239\" height=\"723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Menu-Entry-in-Windows-File-Explorer.jpg 1239w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Menu-Entry-in-Windows-File-Explorer-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Menu-Entry-in-Windows-File-Explorer-500x292.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Menu-Entry-in-Windows-File-Explorer-768x448.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1239px) 100vw, 1239px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>From the folder\u2019s Properties panel, move to the <b>Previous Versions<\/b> tab.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61027\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Select-Previous-Versions-Tab.jpg\" alt=\"VM Folder Properties Panel Select Previous Versions Tab\" width=\"1239\" height=\"723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Select-Previous-Versions-Tab.jpg 1239w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Select-Previous-Versions-Tab-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Select-Previous-Versions-Tab-500x292.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Select-Previous-Versions-Tab-768x448.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1239px) 100vw, 1239px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Choose an older Folder version<\/b> that matches the point in time where you want to revert your virtual machine (1), and click <b>Restore<\/b> (2).<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61028\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Previous-Versions-Restore-Folder-Version.jpg\" alt=\"VM Folder Properties Panel Previous Versions Restore Folder Version\" width=\"1239\" height=\"723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Previous-Versions-Restore-Folder-Version.jpg 1239w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Previous-Versions-Restore-Folder-Version-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Previous-Versions-Restore-Folder-Version-500x292.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VM-Folder-Properties-Panel-Previous-Versions-Restore-Folder-Version-768x448.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1239px) 100vw, 1239px\" \/><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>After a while, the selected folder will have reverted to its selected state\/version. If you try powering on your virtual machine, its state should reflect that earlier point in time, and any data you lost should be back and accessible again.<\/p>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_5_recover_a_deletedmissing_virtual_disk_from_the_host_drive\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 5:<\/span>  Recover a Deleted\/Missing Virtual Disk From the Host Drive<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>When you didn\u2019t lose files within a virtual machine, but its own virtual disk, and there are no backups of any sort available, a data recovery tool can save the day. It doesn\u2019t matter if the virtual machine\u2019s VMDK, VHD, VHDX, or other files got deleted, if its folder disappeared, if a datastore\/NAS volume failed or the virtual disk got lost after partition or file system damage on the host, or even a whole hard disk with multiple virtual machines was reformatted to a different file system <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/datarecovery\/comments\/o9pdh4\/some_advice_on_recovering_vhd_files\/\">like in the case of one unfortunate Redditor<\/a>. Any modern data recovery app worth its bytes can analyze the host\u2019s storage where the virtual machine\u2019s files were stored, find them, and recover them.<\/p>\r\n<p>Using the host PC for this type of recovery results in more write operations, increasing the likelihood that lost data becomes unrecoverable. Thus, cloning the disk where the data was lost <a href=\"\/help\/dmg-iso-backup.html\">to a complete byte-to-byte image<\/a>, especially if the drive acts unstable or the data on it deemed too important to lose, should be your first course of action.<\/p>\r\n<p>Since Disk Drill includes byte-to-byte backup imaging, we\u2019ll also use it for this part of our guide, noting the differences in this case.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>To recover a virtual machine\u2019s own virtual disk or other files from the host OS using Disk Drill:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>Leave your virtual machine unpowered. Download, install, and run Disk Drill directly in the host PC\u2019s OS. Select the app\u2019s <b>Byte-to-byte Backup<\/b> page.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61030\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Information-Page-OK-Lets-Do-It.jpg\" alt=\"Byte To Byte Backup Information Page OK Lets Do It\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Information-Page-OK-Lets-Do-It.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Information-Page-OK-Lets-Do-It-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Information-Page-OK-Lets-Do-It-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Information-Page-OK-Lets-Do-It-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Acknowledge and <b>close<\/b> the two warning pop-ups.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61031\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Warnings.jpg\" alt=\"Byte To Byte Backup Warnings\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Warnings.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Warnings-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Warnings-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Warnings-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Select the host\u2019s drive<\/b> where your virtual machine\u2019s virtual disk was located from the app\u2019s <b>Device\/Disk<\/b> list (1). Then, click <b>Create backup<\/b> (2).<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61032\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Host-Disk-and-Create-Backup.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Select Host Disk and Create Backup\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Host-Disk-and-Create-Backup.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Host-Disk-and-Create-Backup-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Host-Disk-and-Create-Backup-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Select-Host-Disk-and-Create-Backup-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>From the new \u201cBackup into byte-to-byte disk image\u201d window that shows up, click on the button with the <b>three dots<\/b>, and choose the path where the host disk\u2019s backup image will be stored. You can leave the rest of the values as they are. Then, click <b>OK<\/b>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61033\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Select-Path.jpg\" alt=\"Byte To Byte Backup Select Path\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Select-Path.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Select-Path-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Select-Path-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Select-Path-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Allow Disk Drill to image your host\u2019s disk completely.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61034\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Creating-Disk-Image.jpg\" alt=\"Byte To Byte Backup Creating Disk Image\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Creating-Disk-Image.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Creating-Disk-Image-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Creating-Disk-Image-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Backup-Creating-Disk-Image-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>When the process completes and Disk Drill reports that the \u201c<b>Disk image (was) created successfully<\/b>\u201d, click on the <b>Home icon<\/b> to return to the app\u2019s main interface.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61035\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Disk-Image-Created.jpg\" alt=\"Byte To Byte Disk Image Created\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Disk-Image-Created.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Disk-Image-Created-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Disk-Image-Created-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Byte-To-Byte-Disk-Image-Created-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Return to Disk Drill\u2019s <b>Storage Devices<\/b> page, and click <b>Attach disk image<\/b> on the bottom left of its <b>Device\/Disk<\/b> list. Then, select the disk inside it and scan it as we saw <a href=\"#method1\">in our other Disk Drill guide<\/a>.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61036\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Storage-Devices-Attach-Disk-Image.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Storage Devices Attach Disk Image\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Storage-Devices-Attach-Disk-Image.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Storage-Devices-Attach-Disk-Image-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Storage-Devices-Attach-Disk-Image-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Storage-Devices-Attach-Disk-Image-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>While checking out Disk Drill\u2019s scan results of your host drive\u2019s image, if you only want to recover your virtual machine\u2019s storage file, use the <b>File Type<\/b> filter (1) to narrow the list down by typing its file type in the text field that will appear directly underneath, or selecting it from the <b>Other<\/b> file type category (if it shows up there) (2). Depending on the virtualization solution and type of image you were using, this file type might be \u201cVMDK\u201d, \u201cVHD\u201d, \u201cVHDX\u201d, \u201cIMG\u201d, and more.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61037\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Filters-Select-By-Filetype-and-Found-VM-File-Formats.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Filters Select By Filetype and Found VM File Formats\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Filters-Select-By-Filetype-and-Found-VM-File-Formats.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Filters-Select-By-Filetype-and-Found-VM-File-Formats-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Filters-Select-By-Filetype-and-Found-VM-File-Formats-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Filters-Select-By-Filetype-and-Found-VM-File-Formats-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>To recover multiple types of files, <b>repeat<\/b> the last step for each type.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61040\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selected-Windows-11-VM-VMDK-File.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Selected Windows 11 VM VMDK File\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selected-Windows-11-VM-VMDK-File.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selected-Windows-11-VM-VMDK-File-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selected-Windows-11-VM-VMDK-File-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Selected-Windows-11-VM-VMDK-File-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>If you want to recover all of your virtual machine\u2019s files, or its entire folder, you can use Disk Drill\u2019s <b>search<\/b> functionality to search for the folder\u2019s name. Mark everything you want to recover by <b>placing a check mark<\/b> on its left, and proceed <a href=\"#method1\">as we saw before<\/a>. Remember that it\u2019s best to select a separate physical drive as your target destination for the recovered files.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61038\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Search-For-And-Mark-Whole-VM-Folder-For-Recovery.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill Search For And Mark Whole VM Folder For Recovery\" width=\"1378\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Search-For-And-Mark-Whole-VM-Folder-For-Recovery.jpg 1378w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Search-For-And-Mark-Whole-VM-Folder-For-Recovery-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Search-For-And-Mark-Whole-VM-Folder-For-Recovery-500x274.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Search-For-And-Mark-Whole-VM-Folder-For-Recovery-768x420.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1378px) 100vw, 1378px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Ideally, you should verify the integrity of the recovered virtual disk before mounting it or performing any repairs. That\u2019s done differently for each virtualization solution (as is apparent in <a href=\"https:\/\/community.broadcom.com\/vmware-cloud-foundation\/discussion\/check-vmdk-for-corruption\">this conversation about VMware\u2019s approach<\/a>), and presenting detailed instructions for them would be outside the scope of this article. Still, one quick and \u201cglobal\u201d way to do it is to use the popular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.7-zip.org\/\">7-zip archiver<\/a>, which is compatible with many virtual disk formats. With 7-Zip installed, to check your virtual disk\u2019s contents, <b>right-click<\/b> on it (1), select \u201c<b>7-Zip<\/b>\u201d (2), and then \u201c<b>Open archive<\/b>\u201d (3). For a more thorough test, you can extract all of the virtual disk\u2019s contents to a folder by choosing \u201c<b>Extract to (name of archive)<\/b>\u201d instead of \u201cOpen archive\u201d from the same submenu.<br \/>\r\n<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter size-full wp-image-61039\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Open-Recovered-VM-Disk-Image-With-7-Zip.jpg\" alt=\"Open Recovered VM Disk Image With 7 Zip\" width=\"1221\" height=\"712\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Open-Recovered-VM-Disk-Image-With-7-Zip.jpg 1221w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Open-Recovered-VM-Disk-Image-With-7-Zip-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Open-Recovered-VM-Disk-Image-With-7-Zip-500x292.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Open-Recovered-VM-Disk-Image-With-7-Zip-768x448.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1221px) 100vw, 1221px\" \/><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"when_virtualization_data_recovery_is_no_longer_safe_to_diy\"><\/span>When Virtualization Data Recovery Is No Longer Safe to DIY<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>Our team\u2019s experience points to DIY being the right first approach for most VM data recovery cases. It\u2019s usually simpler, faster, and much cheaper than sending a drive to a lab for analysis. However, sometimes it\u2019s best to skip any DIY attempt and contact a professional.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>Professional help proves the safer route when:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f528; You\u2019re dealing with physical damage to the host drive or storage device, such as clicking sounds, repeated disconnects, or freezes during scans.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f9e0; There\u2019s damage to the drive\u2019s storage area, controller, or firmware, that causes it to report an incorrect capacity.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f9d1;&#x200d;&#x2695;&#xfe0f; The disk\u2019s <a href=\"\/help\/monitor-smart-status-disk-health\/\">S.M.A.R.T. status<\/a> shows a low health level or warns about imminent failure.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f5c4;&#xfe0f; RAID\/NAS failure prevents any access to the storage\u2019s contents.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x23f1;&#xfe0f; Large virtual disk files were stored on a rapidly failing SSD\/HDD.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Still in doubt about whether you should try DIY or delegate the task to data recovery experts?<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"table_wrapper table_heading\"><p><\/p>\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Try DIY<\/td>\r\n<td>Refer to professionals<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Files accidentally deleted or lost inside otherwise working and accessible virtual machine.<\/td>\r\n<td>Repeated attempts at DIY didn\u2019t reap usable results.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Corrupted or lost virtual disk in host OS without other issues.<\/td>\r\n<td>Virtual machine files stored on failing\/physically damaged host drive.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Virtual machine files stored on corrupted or formatted but working and healthy host disk.<\/td>\r\n<td>Data lost on storage that isn\u2019t detected by the host OS anymore.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<p><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-success\" role=\"alert\">Before you decide to assign the virtual machine data recovery task to a professional, make sure to check our article on <a href=\"\/howto\/best-data-recovery-services.html\">the best data recovery services<\/a> to find which offer you the highest chances of getting your data back.<\/div>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what_is_the_best_way_to_recover_virtual_machine_data\"><\/span>What Is the Best Way to Recover Virtual Machine Data?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>So, which is the best path depending on the virtual machine data loss scenario you\u2019re facing?<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><b>Virtual machine\u2019s own files missing<\/b>: Scan the host drive or a byte-to-byte image with a data recovery app to get back the main storage VMDK\/VHD\/VHDX file, and any other files related to the virtual machine.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Deleted or lost files inside existing virtual disk<\/b>: scan the virtual disk with data recovery software that supports such images to find and recover the files.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Non-booting virtual machine with intact virtual drives<\/b>: Mount the virtual disk on the host OS as a virtual drive, then copy the files from it using a file manager.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Data loss on its own files or within it, but with backups, snapshots, checkpoints, exported versions, or clones of the virtual machine available<\/b>: Restore the virtual machine to a previous state before the data loss. Make sure to copy the current state first if it may contain newer data you\u2019d like to preserve.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Low health, physical damage, or imminent failure of the host drive or datastore<\/b>: Drop any DIY attempts and contact a professional data recovery lab.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div><section itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/FAQPage\">\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"faq\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq1\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq1\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq1\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"can_i_recover_data_from_a_vmdk_file\"><\/span>Can I recover data from a VMDK file?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq1\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq1\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>Yes, VMDK files are virtual disk files used by VMware\u2019s products, from which you can recover data as long as you use an app that can access their contents.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq2\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq2\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq2\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"can_i_recover_data_from_a_vhd_or_vhdx_file\"><\/span>Can I recover data from a VHD or VHDX file?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq2\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq2\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>Similar to VMDK files, VHD and VHDX files are virtual disk images, often used with Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and other virtualization solutions. Like VMDK files, you can recover files from them using a data recovery solution that can open and scan them.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq3\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq3\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq3\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what_is_the_best_virtual_data_recovery_tool\"><\/span>What is the best virtual data recovery tool?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq3\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq3\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>A virtual data recovery tool must:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Support your virtual disk formats (e.g., VMDK\/VHD, VHDX).<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Come with a performant scanning and recovery engine to find as many files as possible and recover all their data successfully.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>We like Disk Drill because it ticks both boxes and is extremely user-friendly.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq4\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq4\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq4\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_is_virtual_disk_recovery_different_from_file_recovery\"><\/span>How is virtual disk recovery different from file recovery?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq4\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq4\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>The contents of a virtual disk container aren\u2019t directly accessible like those of other storage devices. Thus, a data recovery app must be able to parse a virtual disk\u2019s file format, peek inside it, understand its structure, and locate and recover files from within it.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq5\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq5\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq5\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"can_i_recover_a_deleted_virtual_machine\"><\/span>Can I recover a deleted virtual machine?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq5\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq5\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>Yes, since like any other file, a virtual machine\u2019s files can be recovered from a host PC in various ways. However, you have to act quickly, since the more you use the host OS, the greater the chance that newer data may overwrite the virtual machine\u2019s files, rendering it unrecoverable.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 01px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq6\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq6\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq6\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"can_i_recover_data_from_a_corrupted_virtual_disk\"><\/span>Can I recover data from a corrupted virtual disk?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq6\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq6\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>There\u2019s no definitive answer, since this question may refer to two similar but distinct data loss cases:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Is the virtual disk image file intact and usable, but the virtual disk defined within it corrupted? Then the answer is yes: you can open the file with a compatible data recovery app, scan it, and recover the files from it to another storage device.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Is the virtual disk image file itself corrupted beyond recognition, and no solution can detect it for what it is? Then the answer is maybe, but not with a DIY approach. Data recovery specialists may be able to thoroughly analyze the virtual disk&#8217;s remnants and extract files from it.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did you lose data inside a virtual machine, or its own files? Our data recovery specialists have tested all virtual machine data recovery methods that can save files \u201ctrapped\u201d inside a virtual machine, or restore its own files to render&#8230;","protected":false},"author":7882,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1750],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-60991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-all-about-data-recovery"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Virtual Machine Data Recovery: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lost data inside a virtual machine? Maybe some of the VM&#039;s own files, rendering it inoperable? Here&#039;s how to deal with such issues.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lost data inside a virtual machine? Maybe some of the VM&#039;s own files, rendering it inoperable? Here&#039;s how to deal with such issues.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Data recovery tips. Recover deleted files on Mac, Windows.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/og-cleverfiles.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Odysseas Kourafalos\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Lost data inside a virtual machine? Maybe some of the VM&#039;s own files, rendering it inoperable? Here&#039;s how to deal with such issues.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Attach-Disk-Image-Option.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ducklord\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Cleverfiles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Odysseas Kourafalos\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"26 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)","description":"Lost data inside a virtual machine? Maybe some of the VM's own files, rendering it inoperable? Here's how to deal with such issues.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)","og_description":"Lost data inside a virtual machine? Maybe some of the VM's own files, rendering it inoperable? Here's how to deal with such issues.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html","og_site_name":"Data recovery tips. Recover deleted files on Mac, Windows.","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/og-cleverfiles.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Odysseas Kourafalos","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)","twitter_description":"Lost data inside a virtual machine? Maybe some of the VM's own files, rendering it inoperable? Here's how to deal with such issues.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Disk-Drill-Attach-Disk-Image-Option.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ducklord","twitter_site":"@Cleverfiles","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Odysseas Kourafalos","Est. reading time":"26 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html"},"author":{"name":"Odysseas Kourafalos","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/person\/265ce959a1a65ecb648cb8ec8840d025"},"headline":"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: 5 Proven Methods","datePublished":"2026-08-31T13:10:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html"},"wordCount":4455,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#organization"},"articleSection":["All About Data Recovery"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html","name":"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-08-31T13:10:14+00:00","description":"Lost data inside a virtual machine? Maybe some of the VM's own files, rendering it inoperable? Here's how to deal with such issues.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/virtual-machine-data-recovery.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f","item":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Virtual Machine Data Recovery: 5 Proven Methods"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/","name":"Data recovery tips. Recover deleted files on Mac, Windows.","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#organization","name":"CleverFiles","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/dd-mac-1024-flat.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/dd-mac-1024-flat.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"CleverFiles"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/Cleverfiles"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/person\/265ce959a1a65ecb648cb8ec8840d025","name":"Odysseas Kourafalos","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/650319c30d8542b16a13a51decb4bc14fc074d0f53430abdbc5482a7cb74fc2e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/650319c30d8542b16a13a51decb4bc14fc074d0f53430abdbc5482a7cb74fc2e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Odysseas Kourafalos"},"description":"Odysseas Kourafalos has been writing about computers and technology for over two decades. He specializes in software and has produced thousands of articles, from tutorials on Linux to mini-books about gaming console modifications. His journey in tech began with a Commodore 64, which he almost immediately short-circuited attempting \"to cheat in a game\". It was soon replaced by a Commodore 128, which in time gave way to an Amiga. When the era of Home Computing came to an end, he moved - with the times - to PCs. He's lost vast amounts of data on MS-DOS, then Windows, as well as various Linux distributions. \"Data\" stored on media ranging from ancient 5.25'' floppies to modern SSDs. Since joining us, he's losing his data on purpose. His work has been published on major Greek magazines, like Computer For All and PC World, popular tech sites - among which Make Tech Easier and Make Use Of, as well as countless blogs, like CyberPunks and VapoSearch. He loves gaming, is a huge movie buff, and identifies as a true geek.","sameAs":["kourafalos","https:\/\/x.com\/ducklord"],"url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/author\/odysseas-kourafalos\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7882"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60991"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61793,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60991\/revisions\/61793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}