Data loss from servers, hypervisors, and virtual machines can be daunting. With 35 years of data recovery experience, Ontrack has recovered data from virtualized systems for thousands of enterprise customers worldwide.
Virtualization adds complexity to the data recovery process and when you need data recovered from virtualized environments, Ontrack is here to help.
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Because virtualized systems comprise a unique marriage of software and hardware components, the successful data recovery of inaccessible or lost data requires superior knowledge of hypervisors, host machines, storage devices, RAID arrays, file structures, applications, and more.
Ontrack's global team has years of experience and training, a host of proprietary tools, and specialized knowledge gained through unique working relationships with virtual machine software vendors and hardware OEMs that recommend our services.Ontrack Data Recovery experts can help with following
- VMware ESX and vSAN (VMDK files),
- Microsoft Hyper-V (VHD, VHDX, and AVHDX files)
- Citrix Xen
- Oracle VM
- KVM

Our engineers can handle every data loss scenario in virtualized systems including:
- Failed disks or damaged RAIDs
- Formatted or overwritten hosts and VMs,
- Deleted VMs or snapshots,
- Deleted files from within a VM,
- Corrupt Datastores or host volumes (VMFS, NTFS, ReFS, EXT, XFS, etc),
- Deleted snapshots
Whether it's a single virtual machine or an entire virtualized environment on enterprise storage, we can handle it all.
Our recovery capabilities are nearly unlimited, whether it is software corruption, device failure, or accidental deletion. Through unique capabilities, years of experience, and hundreds of thousands of successful data recoveries have established Ontrack's reputation as the global leader in the data recovery industry.
Common causes of data loss on virtual storage devices.
There are many causes of data loss. Fortunately, Ontrack has expertise to recover data from the following situations and more.
Examples of what we can recover:
- Re-formatted VMware ‘Datastore’
- Corrupted virtual disk files (VMDK)
- Corrupt VMFS Datastore volumes
- Deleted virtual disk files (VMDK)
- Deleted snapshots
- Traditional RAID and hardware failures
- VMware vSphere
- vSAN
- Virtual Volumes (VVols)
- Fusion for Mac
- Workstation Pro
- Corrupted file systems


Virtualized system data recovery recommendations.
For best results, Ontrack recommends you follow these guidelines to protect you from further data loss. These recommendations can help preserve your chances for successful data recovery with Ontrack.
- Never install data recovery software onto a volume if you require deleted data to be recovered. Installing software, creating, or copying files to the volume can permanently overwrite data in the free space of the volume and make it unrecoverable.
- If critical data is inaccessible due to accidental deletion, device failure, or corruption, take the volume offline and unmount it immediately.
- If you choose to attempt data recovery on your own, always work with a backup copy or image file of your data, volume, or VMDK file.
- Re-initializing or reformatting a problematic volume will remove all data and complicate data recovery attempts.
- Only rebuild a RAID array if all of its member drives have been completely imaged, or you have a fully functional and verified backup.
- Never attempt to force a failed RAID member drive online unless you have all member drives imaged.
Our data recovery process.
Contact our specialists for a free consultation immediately if you’ve experienced data loss on the virtualized system.
Time can be critical, and the odds for successful data recovery are higher when no previous attempts have been performed. Decades of experience confirm that this is critical for saving your valuable data.
In lab services
Our industry leading tools guarantee the complete removal of data from all types of storage media. Once you send your media to us, we provide an erasure certificate for your records and can also dispose of your media in an environmentally friendly manner.
Remote Data Recovery
Remote Data Recovery is the best option for cloud recovery due to the speed of the recovery process. It is the fastest was to access and recover your data. This cloud recovery is completed via a secure internet connection using proprietary tools. This method is not only quick, but cost-effective as well.
Onsite Services
If your data is too sensitive to leave your location, or you want to outsource the service, we can help. We provide secure data destruction on site for any type of device. We can also dispose of the media for you and provide an erasure report for audit and compliance.

Virtual Machine Data Recovery FAQs
Virtual System Case Studies
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Ransomware VBK Recoveries on Tape - Server & NAS Systems
Jun 29, 2020, 09:51 AM -
Accidental Deletion of Virtual Machines Results in 15TB Lost
Feb 21, 2020, 10:04 AM -
Ontrack Provides Database and Backup Restores After a Flood
Feb 20, 2020, 16:20 PM -
Ontrack helps a UK leading IT company recover over 60 VMs
Feb 15, 2020, 09:49 AM
Service levels and pricing.
Complex jobs are customized—including timelines, to meet our customers’ requirements. Estimates for evaluations and recovery can vary depending on customer urgency, device type, capacity, number of files, transfer speeds, and complexity of the data loss situation.
Standard
10 business daysPriority
Average of 3 business daysEmergency
Average of 12-24 hoursJoin over a half million people and businesses who have trusted Ontrack to recover their data.
Start your data recovery now with a free evaluation.
Contact our team of experts. Ontrack accommodates everyone – from the largest government or enterprise organisation to an individual who may have lost their digital photos and everyone in between.