flat.vmdk file

I did a migrate which failed, the machine then failed to start saying file missing.
I removed the Second drive (data drive) and the machine now but up, when i went to reattach the second drive it didn't recognize a drive there at all.
I browsed to the store were the drive was kept and all that is there is the server-flat.vmdk file

 I did a Google on it and to repair it they suggest creating a new drive the same size copying the flat.vmdk into the new directory and renaming it to the new file then it should work and i get my data back.

is this correct?
is there a quicker way?
alumwellAsked:
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ryder0707Commented:
Yes thats correct probably the vmdk disc descriptor file is corrupted, flat vmdk file is the actual data for your virtual drive, when you create a new vmdk it will create a proper vmdk disc descriptor file for the new flat vmdk file, overwrite this new flat vmdk file with your existing flat vmdk file, ensure the flat vmdk file name is correct in the disc descriptor file
You can use cat or vi to view the content of the disc descriptor file
Btw, did you try to attach the vmdk to a temp VM just to test it?
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jakethecatukCommented:
Have you looked in the directory that the file exists in to what files you have there?  You can do this through the console/putty and look in /vmfs/volumes/{directory where the vmdk exists}

You should see two files per hard disk.  an *-flat.vmdk and *.vmdk.  If not, which file do you see? (probably the *-flat.vmdk).

Your suggestion should work but I would test it first.

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alumwellAuthor Commented:
I will test it thanks
I have to wait 7 hours for a copy of the file as the location at the moment isnt big enough for me to create the same size Disk :(
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ryder0707Commented:
well, you can create the dummy vmdk elsewhere, you just need the small vmdk disc descriptor file
view the content of the VM directory, ls -lah /vmfs/volumes/your_datastore/your_vm/*.vmdk
you will see what i mean by small
you can even edit the existing vmdk disc descriptor file if you are familiar with vi or nano so you dont even have to copy the flat vmdk file if you dont want to, this is just doing it different way but maintain the same objective, and probably the quicker way as you wanted
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