5.9. Recovering Data from Virtual Machine

A virtual machine is used to create a virtualized environment that behaves like a separate computer system. This virtual computer system when created stores data in the form of images. Stellar Data Recovery supports recovery from these virtual machine images for VMDK, VDI, VHD and VHDX formats.

To recover data from Virtual Machine image:

1. Run Stellar Data Recovery.

2. From the Side Panel, under the Other Recovery Options, click on  Virtual Machine Recovery option.

3. From the Virtual Machine Recovery screen, click on Find VM Image button at the bottom of the screen to find VM Image(s).

4. Find Image dialog box appears. Click the Select Folder button to find the virtual machine image file, then click Find to proceed.   

5. It will list the VM Image(s) as shown below with its respective size, path, and type. Select the image from which you wish to recover data and click Mount.

Note:

• You can also add a particular Image file using  Add icon and remove a particular image file listed using   Remove icon.

• The Virtual Machine Recovery supported formats are VMDK, VDI, VHD, and VHDX.  

• You can select only one image file at a time for recovery.

6. Select Partition screen appears listing all the volumes found in the selected virtual machine image file. Select the volume you wish to scan and click Scan to start the recovery process.

7. A screen displaying the scanning process appears.

Note: To view the scanning details, click on the Click here link next to the Scanning details at the bottom of the screen.

Note: Click on  Stop or Pause/ Resume button to stop or resume the scanning process.

 Note: You can also initiate the deep scan process, once the scan of the selected hard drive volume is complete, click the "Click Here" next to "Deep Scan" at the bottom of the screen. 

8. Once the scanning process is complete, details of the files and folders found are displayed in a dialog box as shown below:

Note: To mount a virtual machine of VHD/VHDX file in Stellar Data Recovery, make sure that the VHD/VHDX image file is not mounted in your Windows OS. To unmount VHD/VHDX file in Windows, go to the New Volume/drive in Windows Explorer, right-click and select Eject.

9. For information on how to preview and recover the scanned data, see Previewing Scan Results and Saving the Recovered Files.

Note: If you wish to save the scanned information and resume the recovery process at a later stage, see Saving the Scan Information.